Definitely. I think considerably more. I have seen the ceramic ones that seem to be a design that goes back to Victorian ones.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceramic_water_filter

In the Sri Lankan context filters are more important than ever, but I think activated carbon ones? Water is (heavily, I think!) chlorinated but pollution is pretty bad.

Oh yeah I never claimed it was new tech. I can say with some certainty that it's been popular in Brazil for a lot longer than 3 or 4 decades!