More people in India have access to a cell phone than to a toilet and improved sanitation, according to a United Nations University study.

“366 million people (31 percent of the population) in India had access to improved sanitation in 2008 while 545 million people have working cell phones thanks to its booming emerging economy,” points out the study released on Wednesday.

“The number of cell phones per 100 people has exploded from 0.35 in year 2000-01 to about 45 today.”

India is likely to miss the sanitation target under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 if there is no speedy progress in that direction, says the Canada-based United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH).

Under the MDG, a target has been set for a 50 percent improvement in access to adequate sanitation by 2015.

“It is a tragic irony to think that in India, a country now wealthy enough that roughly half of the people own phones, about half cannot afford the basic necessity and dignity of a toilet,” said Zafar Adeel, director of UNU-INWEH.

The organisation has also urged the world leaders to set a new target to achieve sanitation beyond the MDG by 2015 by making achievement of 100 percent coverage of sanitation by 2025.

“It costs about $300 to build a toilet, and worldwide an estimated $358 billion investment is needed between now and 2015 to reach the MDG for sanitation,” the study further noted.

“Popular education about the health dangers of poor sanitation is also needed. But this simple measure could do more to save lives, and help pull India and other countries in similar circumstances out of poverty than any alternative investment,” Adil said.

A report by the WHO-UNICEF in March had said that Indians comprised 58 percent of all people (around 665 million) who defecate in the open.

The study also recommended nine points to address sanitation conditions globally.

“Sanitation for all is not only achievable, but necessary. There is a moral, civil, political and economic need to bring adequate sanitation to the global population,” said report co-author Corinne Shuster-Wallace of UNU-INWEH.