World Toilet Day 2026
awarenessThursday, November 19, 2026
65 days from today · next occurrence
About World Toilet Day
World Toilet Day is observed every year on November 19 and tackles a subject people laugh about but the world cannot function without: sanitation. Billions of people still live without safely managed sanitation, including hundreds of millions who practice open defecation, and the consequences are deadly, since diarrheal diseases linked to unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene claim large numbers of children's lives every year.
Established by the UN General Assembly in 2013 and coordinated by UN-Water, the day deliberately breaks the taboo by talking about toilets plainly. Each campaign has a theme, and past editions have focused on groundwater, valuing toilets, sanitation and climate change, and toilets as the first barrier against disease outbreaks.
The observance is directly tied to Sustainable Development Goal 6, which promises safely managed sanitation for everyone by 2030. Events range from school art contests and latrine-building demonstrations to policy summits where governments pledge investment in sewage systems, treatment plants, and household toilets.
When is World Toilet Day?
| Year | Date | Weekday |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | November 19, 2026 | Thursday |
| 2027 | November 19, 2027 | Friday |
| 2028 | November 19, 2028 | Sunday |
| 2029 | November 19, 2029 | Monday |
| 2030 | November 19, 2030 | Tuesday |
History of World Toilet Day
The push began with the World Toilet Organization, founded by Singaporean philanthropist Jack Sim in 2001, which had declared November 19 World Toilet Day as a tongue-in-cheek but serious advocacy campaign. For more than a decade NGOs championed the date, using humor as a hook to open conversations about sanitation. Momentum grew after the UN declared 2008 the International Year of Sanitation, and on July 24, 2013, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 67/291, formally designating November 19 as World Toilet Day and urging all member states to observe it. The resolution highlighted the scale of the crisis, then estimated at more than two billion people without improved facilities. Since 2016, UN-Water has coordinated the annual campaign, aligning each year's theme with the SDG 6 targets on clean water and sanitation and publishing data on the remaining gap toward the 2030 goal.
How to Celebrate World Toilet Day
- Learn the numbers: read this year's UN theme and the latest sanitation statistics from the joint monitoring program.
- Break the taboo by talking with family or classmates about why safe sanitation matters.
- Support a water and sanitation charity that builds latrines and teaches hygiene in schools.
- Check and fix a leaky or running toilet at home to conserve water.
- If you teach, run a lesson or art activity from the official World Toilet Day toolkit.
Frequently Asked Questions
- When is World Toilet Day?
- World Toilet Day is observed every year on November 19. The UN General Assembly formalized the date in 2013, continuing the campaign first started by the World Toilet Organization in 2001.
- Is World Toilet Day a public holiday?
- No. It is a United Nations observance, not a public holiday. Governments, schools, and businesses operate normally, and the day works through campaigns and policy events rather than closures.
- How do people observe World Toilet Day?
- People observe the day by sharing sanitation facts to break taboos, joining school activities and community hygiene campaigns, donating to water and sanitation organizations, and pressing leaders to invest in safely managed sanitation.