Brace yourselves, germaphobes: Indonesia's toilets are some of the dirtiest in Asia, according to the non-governmental World Toilet Organization.

The organization placed Indonesia at twelfth among the 18 Asian countries judged to have the filthiest toilets.

"We have worse toilets compared with other [Asian] countries," said Naning Adiwoso, founder of the Indonesian Toilet Association (ATI). "Though the rank is better than Vietnam, we're below the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand."

Naning said that the rankings were determined by the WTO based the number of germs found on toilets randomly tested in each country.

As many as 80 million germs could be found living on a single toilet, Naning said, and those germs could lead to infectious diseases such as typhoid.

She also stressed that merely flushing a toilet would not eliminate the germs living on it, and that regular cleaning and sanitation and was required.

"Education in the family has a main role, because there are those who consider toilets as less important, so they are defecating or urinating at the river or [engaging in] open defecation," she said.

She said that with Indonesia's highly mobile population, the country desperately needed an increase in the number of public toilets available.

ATI was established 10 years ago with the aim of educating Indonesians about the need for more hygienic and sustainable toilet practices. The organization will be planning events as part of the upcoming World Toilet Day observed on Nov. 19.