Sanitation in developing countries: a systematic review of user preferences and motivations

Empirical research on sanitation in emerging regions has shown that user preferences and behaviors do influence usage of sanitation technologies. The purpose of this review is to examine the existing literature investigating user preferences and perceptions on sanitation, with particular focus on satisfaction and motivation for usage. The scope was limited to research that provided detailed statistical information about the sample population and sanitation technologies examined. Selected literature is summarized into four areas: descriptive studies about sanitation user satisfaction; comparative work analyzing preferences for sanitation technologies; perspectives on sanitation usage and ownership; and importance of factors driving household sanitation installation. Our results indicate that the implementation of improved sanitation is not indicative of overall higher user satisfaction levels. In addition, motivations for usage of sanitation systems vary by technology and geographical setting.