in absolute terms, india is the country with the largest water footprint in the world, a total of 987 gm3/yr. in relative terms (i.e. taking population size into account), the people of the usa have the largest water footprint, with 2480 m3/yr per capita, followed by the people in south european countries such as greece, italy and spain (2300–2400 m3/yr per capita). high water footprints can also be found in malaysia and thailand. in contrast, the chinese people have a relatively low per capita water footprint with an average of 700 m3/yr. (these numbers are also from the period 1996-2005)