Which Cities Have The Most and Fewest Public Toilets?

When 'nature calls,' you don't want to squat behind a tree to answer it. But even the most developed cities and towns are troublingly short on public toilets. And the issue is disproportionately more pressing on humanity's less-privileged restroom users.

The homeless. The elderly. Pregnant women and new mothers. Many will have a sparse mental map of potential pee stops in their neighbourhoods. And those public bathrooms that do exist are often inaccessible to people with certain disabilities. "If I have to be thankful for an accessible bathroom," asks disability rights activist Judy Heumann, "when am I ever gonna be equal in the community?"

But everyone needs the bathroom when out and about from time to time. So, which cities and countries make it easiest to find a restroom?

QS Supplies identified amenities labeled as toilets on OpenStreetMap in large cities in the UK, the U.S. and worldwide and calculated the number of toilets per 100,000 residents. We then combined the city-level figures for each country to calculate the national average number of toilets per 100,000 people.

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First, we looked at the number of restrooms per 100,000 people in large cities around the world.

We found that Chiang Mai, Thailand, has 92.7 public toilets per 100,000 people, the most of any global city. Visitors are advised not to flush paper, but Thai bathrooms often have a handheld bidet-style device to use. Chiang Mai is Thailand's second most populous city, and among its public bathrooms is a live fish-tank-walled restroom in Carp Café in the southwest of the city.

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Three of the top five global cities are in Switzerland, with Bern (91.2 restrooms per 100,000 people), Basel (79.4) and Zurich (76.5) boasting more bathrooms than fifth-placed Salt Lake City in the U.S. (66.6).

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The toilet count in Swiss cities is so high that Switzerland works out as the best country in the world for public toilet access in big cities (see map below), even though the large Swiss cities of Lausanne (37.4) and Geneva (34.2) have far fewer bathrooms. Austria comes in second place with an impressive 52.0 toilets per 100,000 people to Switzerland's 63.7.

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European countries dominate among those with the most restrooms, but New Zealand (42.7) and Australia (33.2) also feature in the top ten. Among New Zealand's fleet of public toilets are 10 Changing Places bathrooms — fully accessible amenities with space and facilities for "toileting, showering, and changing for adults or children who might have more than one caregiver with them."

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Next, we narrowed our search for bathrooms to cities that are popular with tourists. The historic Swiss city of Zurich (76.5) is the best among tourist cities for public restrooms.

In second place is Portugal's capital, Lisbon, where there are 52.5 restrooms per 100,000 people. Please note that if you happen to encounter a row of toilets without doors and facing a mirror in Lisbon Airport, it is intended for children (who presumably can't see the mirror) rather than adults. Grown-up cubicles can be found nearby, as one shocked American tourist eventually discovered.

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Sydney, Australia, is the third-best tourist city for public toilets. Sydney boasts 45.0 restrooms per 100,000 people. The city's public "dunnies" range from the historic to the hyper-modern, and one Sydney Airport bathroom even has a small, one-dog indoor lawn for assistance animals to answer nature's call.

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In the UK, the large cities with the most public toilets per 100,000 people are Exeter (38.7), York (35.8) and Oxford (34.9).

The British Toilet Association (BTA) recently found that the number of public toilets has fallen by 40% since 2000, with austerity measures blamed for much of the decline. The government has recently pledged funding for the provision of public toilets as part of its Pride of Place Strategy.

In Exeter, one facility that closed in 2019 could be reopened as a falafel place, while other closed premises remain on the property market.

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Newcastle is the large UK city with the fewest public toilets — just 1.1 per 100,000 residents. In March 2024, the city opened its first new civic public toilets in 13 years, with Cllr Alex Hay explaining: "Like many councils, we were forced to shut our public toilets due to austerity – we simply could no longer afford to maintain and keep them clean."

Public toilets that have remained open include the listed lavs at Newcastle Central Station — which are today described as "worn, unsanitary, and wholly inappropriate for public use."

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Salt Lake City has 66.6 public toilets per 100,000 people, which is the most of any large American city and significantly more than second-placed Honolulu (56.5).

In the early 20th century, Salt Lake City was the first Western US city to build underground "comfort stations," luxurious public bathrooms that were staffed by attendants but which eventually closed due to vandalism and upkeep costs. The city is currently in the process of revamping its park bathroom offering. While many parks host temporary or permanent toilet facilities, they tend to close during the winter months, making restrooms harder to find.

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The Rhode Island capital of Providence is America's worst large city for public toilet access, offering just 2.6 restrooms per 100,000 people. Acknowledging a shortage of facilities at parks, the Providence Parks Department began adding sustainable facilities, including urine-diverting dry toilets to Merino Park in 2025, as well as raising staffing levels at other parks.

But critics have blamed landlords and developers for keeping public bathrooms closed in other parts of Providence, a pattern that "disproportionately affects people of color and low income."

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Why aren't there more restrooms? Vandalism, drug use, 'misuse' and excessive mess are blamed for authorities' failure to establish and maintain more public toilets. Restrooms require effort and money to function.

But 'people who pee' is a pretty big demographic. Advertisers and corporate sponsors would queue up to access the vacant attention of public bathroom users if the will was there from the authorities. For example, designers in India have pioneered cost-effective and sustainable solutions, such as building bathrooms in disused buses, using solar power, reusing water and designing spaces that encourage respectful behaviour.

In short, peeing in public is political. As long as those who need the service the most are the most underprivileged, it may take a concerted effort for progress on this humanitarian issue.

For the full data from our study, please check out the interactive table below at your convenience.

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To identify the countries and cities with the best and worst public toilet access, we calculated the number of toilets per 100,000 people in over 500 major global cities. We combined the figures for these cities for each country to arrive at our national figures for public toilet availability.

To determine the public toilet counts by city, we looked for amenities labelled as toilets on OpenStreetMap. If the proper borders for a city were not available, the city was removed from the study. Then, we manually adjusted those cities that had erroneously high public toilet counts due to university toilets being logged on Google Maps (in most cases, these are not accessible to non-students).

Data is correct as of March 2026.

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At QS Supplies, we're passionate about toilets, whether residential, commercial, or public. From back-to-wall toilets, close-coupled toilets, toilet seats, back-to-wall toilet units and bidets, you'll find everything you need to make your trips to the washroom as comfortable as possible. See them for yourself at QSSupplies.co.uk today.

View Our 2021 Report of The Public Toilet Index