ReadReproduce this view. This figure is published directly in the linked source table. Source: NFHS-5 (2019-21). Each value is computed from the data file · transform code; every row records its own source and method.
Bottom line
Nine in ten Muslim households had a toilet in 2020, at 90.3%, almost ten points above Hindus at 80.7%. This is one of a cluster of housing measures, toilets, water and electricity, where Muslims sit at or above the national level, a pattern that runs against the gaps on income and education.
How to read the chart
The chart compares the share of households with a toilet across communities for 2019-21; higher is better. The Urban vs rural tab matters here: access is higher in towns for every community, and part of the Muslim lead comes from being a more urban community.
Why it matters
A household toilet is one of the strongest protections a child has: where neighbourhoods stop open defecation, fewer infants die and fewer children are stunted. This is the same sanitation advantage that helps explain why Muslim infants survive at higher rates.
Status
Ahead
Muslim 90.3% vs Hindu 80.7% in 2020, 9.6pp ahead. The Muslim lead on toilets holds across the country and connects directly to the community's better infant survival, where local sanitation is the best-evidenced cause.
Deeper analysis
Potential drivers
Urban living · Muslims are more urban than average, and towns have far higher toilet coverage than villages ↗ Sachar Committee Report, 2006.
Less open defecation · Muslim neighbourhoods practise less open defecation than Hindu ones at the same income, a difference researchers tie to both norms and density ↗ Geruso and Spears, 2018.
Compact settlements · Dense, often walled urban settlement makes a household latrine both more usual and more necessary.
Key levers
Universal coverage · Swachh Bharat has pushed toilet access up for everyone; the unfinished task is the poorest rural households of every community.
Use, not just build · The lasting gain is in sustained use and maintenance, not just construction.
Water to match · A toilet needs water to work, which links this directly to the drinking-water push.
Key stakeholders
Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen): The national rural sanitation programme, under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, that built over ten crore household toilets to make villages free of open defecation.
Jal Jeevan Mission: The Ministry of Jal Shakti mission to provide a safe piped drinking water connection to every rural household, with source sustainability and community management.
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin): The Ministry of Rural Development scheme that helps houseless families and those in kutcha homes build a pucca house with basic amenities.
Aga Khan Agency for Habitat, India: The Aga Khan network's habitat agency, building water security, sanitation, low-cost housing and disaster resilience in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Telangana. Founded by the Ismaili community, it serves all communities.
Human Welfare Foundation: A development NGO whose community work includes drinking-water and shelter projects for deprived families in disadvantaged, largely minority areas. Donate ↗
WaterAid India80G + FCRA ↗: A water and sanitation NGO working since 1986 across about 1,200 villages in ten states to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene reach the poorest. Donate ↗
Habitat for Humanity India80G + FCRA ↗: A housing NGO that provides decent, affordable homes and sanitation to low-income and marginalised families and helps disaster-hit families rebuild. Donate ↗
Sulabh International: India's pioneering sanitation movement, which has built over sixteen lakh household toilets and ten thousand public toilet complexes and works to rehabilitate manual scavengers.
Badges link to an independent or registered credential where the organisation publishes one (Credibility Alliance, GiveIndia, 80G, FCRA). Many smaller NGOs do not take part in these registries, so a missing badge is not a mark against an organisation.
About this measurement
Definition. Share of households with access to a toilet of any type.
Muslim toilet access (90.3%) runs *above* Hindu (80.7%), partly because urban-Muslim share is higher than urban-Hindu share, and urban access is uniformly higher. Not strictly "improved sanitation" per the WHO/UNICEF JMP definition: the published NFHS-5 table aggregates flush, pit and other toilet types.