The share of people using drinking water from improved sources has continued to rise in the developing world, reaching 80 per cent in 2004, up from 71 per cent in 1990. This means that the world is on track to reach the drinking water target. Growing populations pose a challenge, however, and wide disparities among countries and between rural and urban areas persist. The largest urban-rural disparities are found in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, where city dwellers are twice as likely to have safe water as their rural counterparts.