What we count
Edible and inedible food parts discarded by households, food-service businesses and retailers.
Food wasted this year
How much food becomes waste each year in households, food service and retail.
Continuously calculated
WORLDRelated numbers in context
2,314,644pesticide active ingredients used this year
54,544,134,646farm animals slaughtered this year
48,734,064,547chickens slaughtered this year
What lies behind this number
Edible and inedible food parts discarded by households, food-service businesses and retailers.
How the source derives it
The source compiles the global figure from national agricultural, food and production statistics under common definitions.
What one number cannot show
The measure excludes many losses during harvest, storage and production before retail, and measurement quality varies by country.
Source value
The calculation uses the latest published annual value from UNEP Food Waste Index 2024 for 2022.
How the value is used: The running number shows the share corresponding to time since the start of the year.
Annual value1,050,000,000tonnes
- Period
- 2022
- Status
- published
- Primary data source
- UNEP Food Waste Index 2024
How the number is calculated
We distribute the published annual value evenly across the elapsed share of the calendar year.
Formula used
V(t) = Vyear × elapsed share of the yearAnnual reference value1,050,000,0002022 · tonnes
Average per day2,874,802even time-based calculation
Calculation interval0.1 sContinuously calculated
Source value
UNEP Food Waste Index 2024 reports the latest published figure used on this page for 2022.
Calculation method
We distribute the published annual value evenly across the elapsed share of the calendar year.
Smooth display
The result is recalculated on screen every 0.1 seconds.
Where the data comes from
The source value comes from UNEP Food Waste Index 2024 and refers to 2022. It is the latest figure published by this source. The source compiles the global figure from national agricultural, food and production statistics under common definitions.
Latest published and verified source value
- Publisher
- UNEP Food Waste Index 2024
- Data period
- 2022
- Verified
- 12 August 2026
- Coverage
- Worldwide
- Use
- Even time-based calculation