Europe: per capita waste generation by country| ��ƽ��

Per capita municipal waste generation in Europe in 2023, by select country (in kilograms)

Characteristic	Waste generation in kilograms per capita
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Release date

February 2025

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Region

Europe

Survey time period

2023 (or latest data available)

Supplementary notes

Municipal waste is mainly produced by households, similar wastes from sources such as commerce, offices and public institutions are also included. Waste from agriculture and from industries are not included.

Figures for Cyprus and France are provisional. Figures for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Spain, and Turkey are estimates.

Citation formats

Norway generated the largest amount of municipal waste per capita in Europe in 2023, at *** kilograms per inhabitant. Luxembourg ranked second, also with over *** kilograms per capita. Nevertheless, based on data from the previous year, the average Austrian and Dane had the highest municipal waste generation rates in Europe, at over *** kilograms per capita.

How does Europe compare to the rest of the world?

High-income European countries such as Norway, Denmark, and Austria have some of the highest municipal waste generation rates worldwide. Nevertheless, the average municipal waste generation in European OECD countries was just below the OECD average, estimated at *** kilograms per capita in 2022. That year, Europeans generated on average *** kilograms less municipal waste than the average American.

Trends in municipal waste in the EU

In 2023, the EU’s average municipal waste generation stood at *** kilograms per capita, slightly down from *** kilograms per capita a year earlier. This was the second consecutive year of decline after a continual growth between 2014 and 2021. While municipal waste generation grew by **** percent in that period, municipal waste recycling per capita in the EU also increased, by roughly ** percent to some *** kilograms.