Nearly 1.8 billion people, or one-quarter of the Earth’s entire population, live in just seventeen countries which are facing serious water shortages – a problem which is expected to only worsen in the near future.

Of those seventeen nations, which use nearly 80% of their available surface and groundwater in an average year, twelve are in the Middle East and North Africa.

Qatar has the dubious distinction of coming in first place in water shortage issues, with Lebanon and Israel following close behind, according to the Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas report, which was presented by the Water Resources Institute in Washington yesterday.

(LINK).