Share of plastic waste exports in China
China: Share of plastic waste exports was 2.0% in 2024. ◆ Volatile
Share of plastic waste exports in China, 1994–2024
Source: United Nations Comtrade Database (2025); United Nations Comtrade Database (2023) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
China recorded 2.0% for share of plastic waste exports in 2024. That is the highest value across all 21 years on record.
That represents a change of up 6.8% on the previous year and up 543.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of plastic waste exports in China peaked at 2.0% in 2024 and was at its lowest, 0.0%, in 2018.
China ranks 14th of 162 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.
The series is highly variable year to year, so single readings are best treated with caution.
Share of plastic waste exports in China, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 0.5% | — |
| 1995 | 0.5% | -7.4% |
| 1996 | 0.4% | -28.4% |
| 2001 | 0.5% | +42.2% |
| 2005 | 0.5% | -7.6% |
| 2007 | 0.2% | -48.9% |
| 2010 | 0.2% | -30.3% |
| 2011 | 0.2% | +3.0% |
| 2012 | 0.2% | +26.9% |
| 2013 | 0.3% | +52.1% |
| 2014 | 0.3% | -9.1% |
| 2015 | 0.2% | -27.7% |
| 2016 | 1.5% | +560.3% |
| 2017 | 0.3% | -79.7% |
| 2018 | 0.0% | -100.0% |
| 2019 | 0.9% | — |
| 2020 | 0.0% | -100.0% |
| 2021 | 1.0% | — |
| 2022 | 1.3% | +32.1% |
| 2023 | 1.8% | +45.8% |
| 2024 | 2.0% | +6.8% |
China compared with similar countries
- China's 2.0% is above the median for upper middle income countries, which is 0.0%, 72.6× the median. (48 countries reporting)
- China's 2.0% is above the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 0.0%, 144.7× the median. (24 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Share of plastic waste exports in China changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | +560.3% | 0.2% | 1.5% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 3 |
| 2000s | 0.4% | 0.2% | 0.5% | 3 |
| 2010s | 0.4% | 0.0% | 1.5% | 10 |
| 2020s | 1.2% | 0.0% | 2.0% | 5 |
Countries ranked near China
More environment data for China
- Standard Deviation, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Standard Deviation 0.279 °C (2025)
- Temperature change 1.92 °C (2025)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), annual 0.8065 % change on previous year (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), per unit 0 Mt CO2e per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), per capita 0 Mt CO2e per person (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture (Mt CO2e), annual growth rate -0.2517 % change on previous year (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture (Mt CO2e), per unit of GDP 0 Mt CO2e per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture (Mt CO2e), per capita 0 Mt CO2e per person (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) (Mt CO2e), annual 0.9037 % change on previous year (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of plastic waste exports in China?
- Share of plastic waste exports in China was 2.0% in 2024, according to United Nations Comtrade Database (2025); United Nations Comtrade Database (2023) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest share of plastic waste exports recorded in China?
- The highest recorded value was 2.0% in 2024.
- What is the lowest share of plastic waste exports recorded in China?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.0% in 2018.
- How does China rank for share of plastic waste exports?
- China ranks 14th out of 162 countries with data for 2024.
- Is share of plastic waste exports rising or falling in China?
- Over the last ten years it is up 543.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is volatile.
- Where does this China data come from?
- The figures come from United Nations Comtrade Database (2025); United Nations Comtrade Database (2023) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of plastic waste exports. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 21 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Percentage of global plastic waste exports that a country accounts for.