EU food waste totalled 129kg per person in 2024

Food waste across the European Union reached 129 kilograms per person in 2024, totalling 57.9 million tonnes, according to new data from Eurostat.

This is an increase of 0.7% compared with 2023, when the EU generated 57.5 million tonnes of food waste.

Household share

Households accounted for the largest share of food waste, generating 53% of the total, or 69 kilograms per person, Eurostat noted.

Food services, including restaurants, accounted for a further 12%, equivalent to 15kg per person.

Elsewhere, the manufacturing of food products and beverages, accounted for 19% of the total, or 25kg per person. Primary production and retail and other food distribution each accounted for 8%, equivalent to 10kg per person respectively.

Eurostat said food waste measurements are reported annually by sector under the EU Waste Framework Directive. Read more here.

Food Waste by Sector of Activities, EU, 2024

Country	Total Food Waste (tonnes)	Primary Production	Processing and Manufacturing	Retail and Other Distribution of Food	Restaurants and Food Services	Households
EU	57,900,000	4,300,000	11,300,000	4,500,000	6,700,000	31,000,000
Belgium	1,624,349	44,460	590,342	105,263	112,712	771,573
Bulgaria (¹)	617,391	63,880	153,534	36,981	98,661	264,335
Czechia	1,103,901	9,421	181,896	68,060	190,680	653,644
Denmark	1,560,394	122,631	726,423	108,189	85,626	517,526
Germany (¹)	10,930,971	170,720	1,901,532	724,112	1,789,375	6,345,232
Estonia	138,789	5,559	39,101	17,016	101,826	66,087
Ireland	708,343	54,344	168,925	85,424	181,086	218,563
Greece	2,159,056	244,859	555,723	191,439	259,581	907,454
Spain (²)(³)	2,624,926	175,733	570,602	448,215	276,008	1,154,367
France	9,997,000	1,362,000	419,000	817,000	106,000	4,293,000
Croatia	472,275	93,598	42,260	63,649	60,679	212,089
Italy	8,087,782	84,442	638,788	545,617	765,178	6,053,857
Cyprus	287,414	46,688	71,457	60,328	32,799	76,142
Latvia	250,597	23,297	27,478	21,359	17,771	160,692
Lithuania	196,861	1,900	52,141	31,559	5,609	105,653
Luxembourg	87,697	6,905	13,125	6,877	6,025	54,765
Hungary	829,244	13,604	191,429	34,356	20,156	569,699
Malta	77,420	386	4,811	2,769	20,424	49,030
Netherlands (²)	2,314,200	190,000	1,009,000	116,000	83,000	916,200
Austria	1,175,206	11,297	234,863	71,275	228,418	629,353
Poland	4,758,339	794,823	578,527	490,788	321,801	2,572,400
Portugal	1,820,452	127,212	65,236	235,933	206,535	1,185,536
Romania (¹)	3,584,560	613,337	422,892	26,709	563,510	1,958,112
Slovenia	168,318	38	25,999	15,171	53,525	73,585
Slovakia	390,053	23,302	57,548	31,861	13,837	263,506
Finland (²)	584,722	37,117	93,477	42,227	77,105	334,796
Sweden	1,391,398	22,892	571,994	83,434	136,024	637,054
Norway	760,785	139,282	84,772	55,634	81,363	399,734
Iceland	49,258	20,516	1,380	2,192	4,490	20,680