Improved sanitation facilities are terms used to classify the type or level of sanitation for monitoring purposes, created by the Foundation and the World Health Organization Joint Water and Sanitation Monitoring Programme (JMP) 2002 to help monitor the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals ( MDGs) Progress of the target. Contrary to “improving sanitation facilities” is the “unmodified sanitation facility” in the JMP definition.

The Joint Water and Sanitation Monitoring Program (JMP) publishes an update on the state of the global sanitation every year. For example, it is reported that 68% of the world's population in 2015 can be improved in sanitation.

In 2017, JMP defined a new term: “Basic Sanitation Service”. This is defined as the use of improved sanitation facilities that are not shared with other households. Lower levels of service are now referred to as "limited sanitation services," which refers to the use of improved sanitation facilities shared between two or more households. A higher level of service is called "safety management of sanitation." This is a basic sanitation service where excreta is safely disposed of on site or transported and disposed off-site.