Global food waste insights

Food waste, policy, and economic data

Note: Most interactive elements on this page are placeholders for now and will be fully functional in a later milestone.

Explore country-level food waste, policy strength, and economic indicators from the project dataset.

28 countries 392 source records 2 rendered charts
Hold & drag around the globe to observe a country

South Korea

Yearly food loss
$####
Economic gain
$######
Economic loss
####
Waste policy adoption
###%
Wise
Score
9.0
Countries shown
28
One 2021 row per country in the master overview.
Policy score range
5–18
Scores combine six policy categories on an 18-point scale.
Waste range
54–201
Total food waste per capita in kilograms per year.
Strongest profile
France
The only country with a full 18/18 policy score.

Policy strength vs. food waste

This scatter plot compares each country’s policy score against total food waste per capita.

Scatter plotPolicy score on the x-axis • total waste on the y-axis

What to notice

France sits at the high-policy end, while Nigeria combines a low policy score with the highest waste per capita in the dataset.

Interpretation

The points don't form a perfect line, so policy strength is important, but not the only factor affecting food waste.

Lab use

Addresses do policies pay off question.

Food waste by sector

This stacked bar chart shows how household, foodservice, and retail waste add up in the highest-waste countries. It gives you a second visual angle on the data and makes the sector split easy to explain in class.

Stacked bar chartTop countries by total waste • household + foodservice + retail

Pattern

Household waste is the largest component across the countries shown, with foodservice second and retail the smallest.

Why it helps

It shows where waste comes from instead of only showing a single total.

Submission tip

This chart is easy to screenshot and works well as a visual in your lab write-up.

Underlying data table

The table below contains the 2021 values used to render the charts. It provides the required grid-format dataset directly inside the page.

Country Income Group Region GDP / cap ($) Population Household Foodservice Retail Total waste Policy score Liability Tax incentives Date labeling Food safety Waste deterrence Govt grants

Data source: the project workbook Waste Wise - Food Waste Policy & Economic Data, which documents the Global Food Donation Policy Atlas, UNEP Food Waste Index reports, and World Bank data in its methodology page.