Countries by Food Waste per Person
Complete ranking of 221 countries • kg/person/year • Data refreshed May 28, 2026
Leader
Cyprus
Field size
221 countries
Lowest rank
Palestine
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About Food Waste per Person Rankings
Cyprus leads all 221 countries in Food Waste per Person with a value of 294 kg/person/yr, while Palestine ranks last at 53.56 kg/person/yr. This represents a 5-fold difference between the highest and lowest values.
What Food Waste per Person Measures
Estimated kilograms of food waste per person per year from the UN Global SDG Indicators Database.
Why This Ranking Matters
Examining Food Waste per Person across all countries reveals patterns that might not be obvious at the national level. Regional clusters, outlier nations, and historical trajectories all become clearer when the full global picture is assembled in a single ranking.
Global Range
Values range from 53.56 kg/person/yr (Palestine) to 294 kg/person/yr (Cyprus) — a 5-fold difference across 221 countries.
Regional Patterns
The top 20 is globally diverse, with countries from 5 continents represented. No single region dominates, suggesting this metric is driven more by national conditions than by broad continental patterns.
Values are tightly clustered around the median of 135.83 kg/person/yr, with most countries falling within a narrow range. A few outliers at the extremes account for most of the overall spread.
Notable Outliers
The top of the ranking is competitive: Cyprus and Maldives are separated by only 13%, indicating that the leading positions could shift with updated data.
Continental Leaders
Highest Food Waste per Person
The 5 strongest Food Waste per Person reads.
Lowest Food Waste per Person
The 5 lowest Food Waste per Person reads.
Data Note
Rankings are based on the latest available data from UN Global SDG Indicators Database, covering 221 of 249 countries and territories. Countries without data for this metric are excluded from the ranking. All values represent the most recently reported figures.