User:JustinePorto/Public toilets in Sri Lanka

Public toilets in Sri Lanka are relatively uncommon, found at a rate of around one per 100,000 people. Found mostly at hotels and restaurants, most are Western style sit toilets and provide toilet paper.

Public toilets
There are very few public toilets in Sri Lanka. A 2021 study found there was one public toilet per 100,000 people.

The most likely location to find a toilet that is accessible to members of the public is at a hotel or a restaurant. Most of these toilets have toilet paper available, but not all do. The most common type of toilet is a Western-style sit toilet. There are very few squat toilets. An issue with some toilets is they may have insects that appear after a person has urinated or defecated.

The Asian Development Bank started working with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2013 on improving fecal sludge management, including investing in non-sewered sanitation projects, in a number of countries including Sri Lanka.

Regional and global situation impacting public toilets in Sri Lanka
Around 2.5 billion people around the world in 2018 did not have access to adequate toilet facilities. Around 4.5 billion people lacked access to proper sanitation. Public toilet access around the world is most acute in the Global South, with around 3.6 billion people, 40% of the world's total population, lacking access to any toilet facilities. 2.3 people in the the Global South do not have toilet facilities in their residence. Despite the fact that the United Nation made a declaration in 2010 that clean water and sanitation is a human right, little has been done in many places towards addressing this on a wider level.

An issue in developing countries is toilet access in schools. Only 46% of schools in developing countries have them. Many schools around the world in 2018 did not have toilets, with the problem particularly acute in parts of Africa and Asia. Only one in five primary schools on earth had a toilet and only one in eight secondary schools had public toilets.

Public toilets, depending on their design, can be tools of social exclusion. Western public toilet standards including privatization and limited opening hours disadvantage women when implemented in countries in the Far East. Western style sit toilets are more popular among the emerging middle and upper class around the world.

Toilet paper and flush toilets were introduced relatively recently in many parts of Asia. They often are not found in public toilets, and may only be found in hotels catering to international guests and wealth clients. In many places in rural Asia, having toilets in a house is considered unclean. As a result, toilets are often located outside the main building for a residence or people practice open defecation because of a lack of toilet access in their homes.

Toilets can often be found on more modern long distance buses in Asia. For shorter trips or on older buses, they are much less common. Where toilets are not available on long distance buses, buses often make stops for toilet breaks. Sometimes the stops are in open fields. Many youth hostels and hotels catering to backpackers in Asia do not provide toilet paper.