Where Data Tells the Story
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Every person on Earth wastes an average of 353 lbs (160 kg) of food annually — the equivalent of throwing away double their own body weight in food each year.
The data is sourced from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which reported in 2011 that the world wastes 1.3 billion metric tons of food annually — one-third of all food produced for human consumption. This includes loss at every stage: from farms and transport to retail and households.
🛒 In high-income countries, more than 40% of food waste occurs at the retail and consumer level.
🌾 In low-income countries, most food waste happens during harvest, storage, and transport due to lack of infrastructure.
💸 Global food waste costs the economy over $940 billion per year.
🌍 Cutting food waste is among the top 3 solutions to reverse climate change, according to Project Drawdown.
🥕 The amount of food wasted could feed 2 billion people — more than double the number of undernourished people worldwide.