In addition, whereas labour market opportunities in rural areas are likely to remain dominated by food and agriculture (a highly water-dependent sector), employment opportunities in urban and periurban areas may evolve rapidly as the result of current technological changes and the digitalization of the economy (or ‘Industry 4.0’). However, in terms of both the number of people affected and (especially) the number of people killed, the impacts of floods, droughts and conflicts are grossly outweighed by the number of those affected or killed by inadequate drinking water and sanitation services (Figure 1). However, there are no data available estimating what proportion of these people were ‘affected’, nor what the resulting overall economic damage would equate to. This steady rise has principally been led by surging demand in developing countries and emerging economies (although per capita water use in the majority of these countries remains far below water use in developed countries — they are merely catching up).