Food waste produced worldwide 2022, by selected country

China and India, the world's most populous countries in the world, were some of the largest producers of food waste, with an estimated 109 million and 78 million metric tons in 2022, respectively. It is estimated that per capita food waste production is highest in Western Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Sources of food waste

The global population produced approximately one billion metric tons of food waste in 2022. This represented roughly 17 percent of total food made available. Household food waste was the main source of food waste that year, accounting for 60 percent of the total. The second main source of food waste was the foodservice sector. 

Why is food waste such a problem?

Food waste has many societal impacts. It not only costs the global economy hundreds of billions of dollars every year and depletes resources, but it also harms the environment and contributes to the climate crisis. When food waste is dumped at landfill sites it rots and produces large volumes of methane – a potent greenhouse gas. Food waste accounts for an estimated nine percent of global food system greenhouse gas emissions, which in 2015 totaled 17.9 billion metric tons of CO2 equivalent.