According to the most recent joint monitoring program report for water and sanitation, sanitation coverage and usage has significantly progressed globally. The use of basic sanitation services has increased steadily between 2000 and 2015.

In a recent paper, Anagol, Etang and Karlan (2013) consider the income generated by these owning a cow or a buffalo in two districts of Uttar Pradesh, India. The net profit generated ignoring labour costs, gives rise to a small positive rate of return. Once any reasonable estimate of labour costs is added to costs, the rate of return is a large negative number. The authors conclude that households holding this type of assets do not behave according to the tenets of capitalism.