1. World Statistics
Of the globally produced food each year, 17% is wasted. This amounts to 931 million metric tons of food. To put
this into context, it is over one-sixth (1/6) of all food available for consumption, enough to fill 23 million 40-ton
trucks which would circle the Earth seven times. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO), it is also more than enough to feed all the 815 million hungry people in the world four times
over. It isn’t just an abstract number – it represents valuable food that is being squandered and not fulfilling the
purpose for which it was grown.
UNEP estimates that the food wasted costs $990 billion ($680 billion in industrialized countries and $310 billion
in developing countries). However, FAO’s Full Cost Accounting (FCA) gives an indication that the true magnitude
of food wastage soars up to $2.6 trillion annually taking into consideration its economic, environmental, and
social impacts. When edible items are discarded, it’s not just food that is wasted. All the resources required to
bring food from the farm to the table: water for irrigation, land for planting, fuel for powering harvest and
transport vehicles; all these resources are essentially wasted right along with the food. Seventy percent (70%) of
Earth’s freshwater is used for agricultural purposes, including crop irrigation and drinking water for livestock
while 28% of the world's agricultural area is used to produce food that is ultimately lost or wasted each year.
Source of food waste
Consumer
Retail
Total
Households
Food services
2019 Food Waste
(million metric
tons)
569
244
118
931
Proportion in
global food
waste
61%
26%
13%
100%
Proportion in global
food produced
11%
5%
2%
17%
Global average
food waste
(per capita/year)
74 kg
32 kg
15 kg
Household per capita food waste generation is found to be broadly similar across country income groups,
suggesting that action on food waste is equally relevant in high, upper-middle, and lower-middle income
countries. This contradicts earlier narratives which stated that consumer food waste is higher in developed
countries while food production, storage and transportation losses are still higher in developing countries.
Inger Andersen, UNEP’s Executive Director, stated in the report that if food loss and waste were a country, it
would be the third biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions next to China and the United States. Eight to ten
per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions are associated with unconsumed food. Reducing food waste would
cut greenhouse gas emissions, slow the destruction of nature through land conversion and pollution, enhance
the availability of food and thus reduce hunger and save money at a time of global recession.
Food produced
Cereals (wheat, oats, rice, maize, millet, etc)
Root crops, fruits, vegetables
Oilseeds, meat, and dairy
Fish and marine products
% of the total produce wasted annually
30%
40-50%
20%
30%
World Stat Breakdown
Household
No. of
Regions
Countries
6
Northern Africa
49
Sub-Saharan Africa
42
Latin America and the
Ave. food waste
Food waste
(kg/per capita/year)
(in tons)
Food Service
Proportion
Average food waste
Food waste
(kg/per capita/year)
(in tons)
Retail
Proportion
Average food waste
Food waste
(kg/per capita/year)
(in tons)
Proportion
89.5
22,114,943
3.89%
28
6,666,719
2.74%
16
3,772,048
3.19%
101.65
121,812,974
21.41%
27.41
29,620,990
12.16%
15.45
16,407,559
13.87%
73.57
47,216,868
8.30%
27.19
17,815,009
7.31%
14.71
10,026,541
8.47%
Caribbean
4
Northern America
71.5
22,307,056
3.92%
35.5
21,894,102
8.99%
13.75
5,814,952
4.92%
5
Central Asia
86.2
6,346,507
1.12%
28
2,023,579
0.83%
16
1,144,947
0.97%
7
Eastern Asia
71.43
106,361,583
18.69%
27.86
69,562,749
28.55%
12.29
24,729,386
20.90%
11
South-eastern Asia
83
53,339,841
9.37%
33.27
20,263,461
8.32%
21.18
12,353,948
10.44%
(including Timor-Leste)
9
Southern Asia
71.89
108,284,874
19.03%
25.22
49,057,161
20.13%
16
29,998,472
25.36%
18
Western Asia
101.06
27,899,838
4.90%
27.17
7,485,754
3.07%
17.17
4,678,425
3.95%
10
Eastern Europe
68.1
15,155,306
2.66%
27
7,938,009
3.26%
14.3
4,073,863
3.44%
12
Northern Europe
89.6
8,029,345
1.41%
24.17
2,022,231
0.83%
12.83
832,556
0.70%
15
Southern Europe
85.6
11,970,224
2.10%
24.8
3,731,673
1.53%
12.6
1,377,001
1.16%
9
Western Europe
67.22
14,242,957
2.50%
25.78
4,590,069
1.88%
12
2,658,763
2.25%
2
Australia and New
81.5
2,854,879
0.50%
24
668,596
0.27%
6
253,171
0.21%
81.47
1,071,998
0.19%
27.29
333,019
0.14%
14.94
187,078
0.16%
569,009,193
100%
243,673,121
100%
118,308,710
100.00%
Zealand
17
216
Oceania
2. ASEAN and PH Statistics
ASEAN Data
Source of food waste
Consumer
2019 Data (tons)
Proportion
53,228,198
20,227,720
12,333,726
85,789,644
62.04%
23.58%
14.38%
100%
Households
Food services
Retail
Total
Country
Brunei Darussalam
Cambodia
Indonesia
Laos
Malaysia
Myanmar
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Vietnam
Average
Total
Households
kg/per capita/year
tons/year
80
34,742
86
1,423,397
77
20,938,252
86
618,994
91
2,921,577
86
4,666,125
86
9,334,477
80
465,385
79
5,478,532
76
7,346,717
82.7
53,228,198
World
Statistics
per capita/per year
Food waste (tons)
per capita/per year
Food
service
Food waste (tons)
per capita/per year
Retail
Food waste (tons)
Total food waste
Household
74 kg
569 million
32 kg
244 million
15 kg
118 million
931 million
82.7 kg
53,228,198
33.8 kg
20,227,720
21.7
12,333,726
85,789,644
Philippine Data
Ave. food waste
(per capita/year)
82.7 kg
33.8 kg
21.7 kg
2019 Data (tons)
Proportion
9,334,477
2,988,340
1,690,811
14,013,628
66.61%
21.32%
12.07%
100%
Food Service
kg/per capita/year
tons/year
26
11,075
28
455,686
28
7,480,085
28
198,165
90
2,861,537
28
1,493,814
28
2,988,340
26
148,358
28
1,924,450
28
2,666,210
33.8
20,227,720
ASEAN
Relative to world
statistics
Higher by 11.76%
86 kg
Accounts for 9.35%
9,334,477
Higher by 5.63%
28 kg
Accounts for 8.29%
2,988,340
Higher by 44.67%
16 kg
Accounts for 10.45%
1,690,811
Accounts for 9.21% 14,013,628
Ave. food waste
(per capita/year)
86
28
16
Retail
kg/per capita/year
13
16
16
16
79
16
16
13
16
16
21.7
Philippines
Relative to world
statistics
Higher by 16.22%
Accounts for 1.64%
Lower by 12.5%
Accounts for
Higher by 6.67%
Accounts for 1.43%
Accounts for 1.51%
tons/year
5,550
257,829
4,232,252
112,122
2,518,199
845,204
1,690,811
74,351
1,088,859
1,508,549
12,333,726
Relative to ASEAN
Higher by 3.99%
Accounts for 17.54%
Lower by 17.16%
Accounts for
Lower by 26.27%
Accounts for 13.71%
Accounts for 16.33%
Reference:
Forbes, H., Quested, T., and O’Connor, C. (2021). UNEP Food Waste Report 2021.
https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/35280/FoodWaste.pdf
Retrieved September 8, 2021.
UNEP Food Waste Appendix. https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/35356/FWA.pdf
Retrieved September 8, 2021.
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (2014). Food Wastage Footprint: Full Cost Accounting.
http://www.fao.org/3/i3991e/i3991e.pdf. Retrieved September 8, 2021.