More than 40 countries attended the 1st World Toilet Summit in New Delhi, India.

The four-day summit that kicked-off Wednesday brought to light the fact that at least 2.6 billion people, or 40 pct. of the total world's population may have "roofs above their heads, but have no repository bowls below."

According to the event co-organizer, Bindeshwar Pathak of an NGO group Sulabh International, the issue about toilet is both pressing and timing.

"It is as important an issue as anything. It is mostly the Asian, African and Latin American countries that lack basic sanitation" he said in BBC Report.

In India alone, which is considered as one of the world's most populous regions, an estimated 700 million households have no toilets with proper disposal systems.

Concerned about this scenario, the United Nations itself highlighted the lack of toilet as one of its priorities in the millennium development goals, targeting to cut by half the reported figure by 2015.