This report describes the status and trends with respect to the use of safe drinking water and basic sanitation and progress made towards the MDG drinking water and sanitation target. As the world approaches 2015, it becomes increasingly important to identify those who are left behind and to focus on the challenges of addressing their needs. This report therefore shows disparities: the gap between progress in providing access to drinking water versus sanitation; the divide between urban and rural populations in terms of the services provided; differences in the way different regions are performing bearing in mind that they started from different baselines; and disparities between different economic strata in society. Each JMP report assesses the situation and trends anew. The information presented in this report includes data from household surveys and censuses completed during the period 2007-2008. It also contains datasets from earlier surveys and censuses that have become available to the JMP since the publication of the previous JMP report in 2008. For this report data nearly 300 surveys and censuses covering the period 1985-2008 were added to the JMP data base. The present JMP report therefore supersedes previous reports. These data do not yet reflect the efforts of the 2008 International Year of Sanitation which mobilized renewed support around the world for stopping the practice of open defecation and promote the use of latrines and toilets.