hi to all In Mexico squating toilets are quite rare and I have only seen them over pit latrines some 30 years ago, in recent times (last 20 years) most of latrine or low cost sanitaton technologies include a seat, modernity is coming, and sometimes means a seating toilet, In my personal experience abroad, in Europe, I would say that the remaining squating toilets were built a long time ago, I would suggest to look in the catalogs of sanitation suppliers if squating plates can be bought today.

In the world bank latrine construction manuals published during the sanitation decade 1982 1992 there are references and instructions to build squating plates and suggestions for it's use, they declare that for public facilites it is easier to maintain and clean than seats

Elisabeth, you could turn this into a survey form with clickable options and some text fields so that it's easier to participate (especially for those who just want to chip in w/o having to register for the forum).

This thread used to be part of this thread: forum.susana.org/forum/categories/141-ot...cle-on-squat-toilets
(about squatting versus sitting in Latin America, and Wikipedia article about squat toilets)

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I am still on a mission to get to the bottom of this issue of sitting versus squatting toilets at a worldwide level.

Therefore, I invite you all to take part in my little survey here and to tell me the situation in your country. We have forum users from so many countries ( forum.susana.org/forum/statistics?task=map ) so it would be awesome if we could hear about as many countries as possible!

If you are normally a very quiet forum member, a novice, a student, a non-expert: here is your chance to have your say, even if it is just a short post. I would very much like to hear from you.

Please tell me your rough estimates for your country (split by region if it's a big diverse country):

• Percentage of squatting toilets in private homes
• Percentage of squatting toilets in public buildings
• Any changes you are observing in this pattern over time
• How common is anal cleansing with water (in case we can find a correlation between anal cleansing with water and the use of squatting toilets)
• Any other comments

If I get a clearer picture, then I will update the information on Wikipedia about the use of squat toilets on a worldwide level: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squat_toilet

Thanks!

Elisabeth

P.S. For my own country, Germany, it looks like this:

• Percentage of squatting toilets in private homes: 0 %
• Percentage of squatting toilets in public buildings: 0 %
• Any changes you are observing in this pattern over time: No, sitting toilet seem to have been the norm for a very long time, except for defecating in the forest of course, but that's not really a "toilet".
• How common is anal cleansing with water (in case we can find a correlation between anal cleansing with water and the use of squatting toilets): Not common in the "Christian" or non religious part of the population; it assume it is common amongst the Muslim part of our population - which is 4-5% according to good old Wikipedia ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Germany ); although I am not sure if they practice it in public toilet because I have never really seen traces of it, e.g. water splashes on the floor or on the seat. Must speak to some of my Muslim friends about it and ask them.
• Any other comments: none