Top 10 countries that waste the most food: Food waste is not just about throwing away leftovers; it has a huge effect on our society, our economy, and even the planet’s health. Every year, the world loses hundreds of billions of dollars because of wasted food. On top of that, it drains valuable resources like water, land, and energy that were used to grow, process, and transport the food in the first place. When this food ends up in landfills, it rots and releases methane gas, which is one of the most harmful greenhouse gases driving climate change. Scientists estimate that wasted food alone is responsible for about nine percent of all greenhouse gas emissions from the global food system. To give a sense of scale, the food system produced nearly 18 billion metric tons of emissions in 2015, and food waste made up a big chunk of that. At the same time, the tragedy is even deeper because while so much food is being wasted, hundreds of millions of people around the world still go hungry. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), more than $1 trillion’s worth of food is thrown away every year, while around 783 million people struggle with hunger. Food waste also puts pressure on the environment, as it creates around 8 to 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and uses up nearly 30 per cent of farmland worldwide just to produce food that nobody ends up eating. The UNEP’s Food Waste Report 2024 gives a clearer picture of how bad the problem really is. In 2022, the world produced about 1.05 billion tonnes of food waste. This waste came from three main sources: retail shops, restaurants and food services, and households. On average, every person in the world wasted about 132 kg of food that year. Out of that, around 79 kg came from households alone, which means a big part of the problem starts right in our kitchens. Overall, about 19 per cent of the food available to consumers was wasted. Not just a problem of the rich What’s interesting is that household food waste looks similar across different kinds of countries, whether rich or poor. For example, in high-income countries, households wasted about 81 kg per person. In upper middle-income countries, it was 88 kg, and in lower middle-income countries, it was 86 kg. Sadly, there isn’t enough reliable data for the poorest countries, but the trend shows that food waste is not just a problem of the rich; it happens everywhere. Looking at specific countries, the biggest total amounts of food waste come from China and India, simply because they have such huge populations. China throws away around 108.7 million tonnes of food every year, while India wastes 78.1 million tonnes. The United States also wastes a huge amount, about 24.7 million tonnes each year. In Europe, countries like France and Germany throw away between 3.9 and 6.5 million tonnes each year. At the lower end, countries such as South Africa and Ghana waste about 2.8 million tonnes annually. But the picture changes when we look at food waste per person. For example, the average Indian household wastes about 55 kg of food per year, while in the US that number is higher at 73 kg. On the other hand, some countries waste far less. The Philippines produces nearly 3 million tonnes of food waste in total, but when you divide it across the population, it comes to only 26 kg per person, which is much lower than the figure for India or the US. Top 10 countries that waste the most food: Rank Country Total food waste per year (in tonnes) Estimated food waste per capita (in Kg) 1. China 108.6 million 76 2. India 78.1 million 55 3. United States 24.7 million 73 4. Brazil 20.2 million 94 5. Indonesia 14.7 million 53 6. Germany 6.5 million 78 7. Russia 4.8 million 33 8. Philippines 2.9 million 26 9. South Africa 2.8 million 47 10. Ghana 2.8 million 84 Source: UNEP’s Food Waste Report 2024
