Waste - Municipal waste: generation and treatment — Total waste generated by country
This dataset presents trends in amounts of municipal waste generated (including household waste), and the treatment and disposal method used. The amount of waste generated in each country is related to the rate of urbanisation, the types and pattern of consumption, household revenue and lifestyles. Data source(s):...
What the numbers show
Waste - Municipal waste: generation and treatment — Total waste generated is currently reported for 35 countries. The highest value is 246.38 Index in Azerbaijan; the lowest is 63.15 Index in Bulgaria.
The median across all reporting countries is 127.22 Index, and the mean is 133.43 Index.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 4.
Over the past decade 27 countries rose and 8 fell. The largest increase was in Norway (up 83.5%), and the largest decrease in Armenia (down 16.3%).
Waste - Municipal waste: generation and treatment — Total waste: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Azerbaijan | 246.38 Index | 2023 | up 62.8% | rising |
| 2 | China | 214.97 Index | 2023 | up 47.4% | rising |
| 3 | Armenia | 208.22 Index | 2023 | down 16.3% | rising |
| 4 | Chile | 191.4 Index | 2023 | up 27.0% | rising |
| 5 | Iceland | 171.93 Index | 2023 | up 33.8% | rising |
| 6 | Belgium | 171.71 Index | 2024 | up 74.2% | rising |
| 7 | Czechia | 170.07 Index | 2024 | up 79.1% | rising |
| 8 | Malta | 169.87 Index | 2024 | up 29.6% | rising |
| 9 | Luxembourg | 161.66 Index | 2024 | up 32.5% | rising |
| 10 | Israel | 160.88 Index | 2024 | up 28.8% | rising |
| 11 | Russian Federation | 155.44 Index | 2012 | up 49.2% | rising |
| 12 | Austria | 153.72 Index | 2023 | up 45.6% | rising |
| 13 | Cyprus | 153.41 Index | 2024 | up 26.9% | rising |
| 14 | Norway | 144.89 Index | 2024 | up 83.5% | rising |
| 15 | Ireland | 137.57 Index | 2024 | up 19.7% | rising |
| 16 | Mexico | 128.44 Index | 2022 | down 6.2% | rising |
| 17 | Switzerland | 127.63 Index | 2024 | up 0.5% | rising |
| 18 | Denmark | 127.22 Index | 2024 | down 1.0% | rising |
| 19 | Greece | 122.34 Index | 2024 | up 2.4% | rising |
| 20 | United States | 120.09 Index | 2018 | up 15.7% | rising |
| 21 | Sweden | 119.62 Index | 2024 | up 5.1% | rising |
| 22 | Portugal | 117.97 Index | 2024 | up 17.8% | rising |
| 23 | France | 116.27 Index | 2024 | up 6.0% | rising |
| 24 | OECD | 111.33 Index | 2024 | up 8.3% | rising |
| 25 | Australia | 102.12 Index | 2023 | down 1.6% | rising |
| 26 | Brazil | 100.59 Index | 2012 | up 2.4% | falling |
| 27 | Italy | 99.59 Index | 2024 | down 2.7% | rising |
| 28 | Germany | 99.36 Index | 2024 | up 2.7% | flat |
| 29 | Finland | 98.86 Index | 2024 | down 2.3% | rising |
| 30 | United Kingdom | 88.02 Index | 2023 | down 3.2% | flat |
| 31 | Hungary | 86.92 Index | 2024 | up 4.3% | falling |
| 32 | Spain | 84.1 Index | 2024 | up 7.0% | falling |
| 33 | Romania | 73.13 Index | 2023 | up 14.8% | falling |
| 34 | Japan | 71.08 Index | 2023 | down 13.1% | falling |
| 35 | Bulgaria | 63.15 Index | 2023 | up 0.7% | falling |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- Moldova 363.4 Index
- Slovak Republic 193.57 Index
- Croatia 160.24 Index
- Korea 132.25 Index
About this data
This dataset presents trends in amounts of municipal waste generated (including household waste), and the treatment and disposal method used. The amount of waste generated in each country is related to the rate of urbanisation, the types and pattern of consumption, household revenue and lifestyles. Data source(s): OECD Annual Quality Assurance (AQA) questionnaire (jointly collected with Eurostat) for OECD countries. UNSD, Country Files from the UNSD/UNEP data collection on environment statistics (available at: https://unstats.un.org/unsd/envstats/country_files) for non-OECD countries. Contact: ENV.Stat@oecd.org Dataset release date: March, 2026 Database documentation