Which has higher waste — emissions, China, mainland or OECD?

OECD, at 16,440 kt against 12,700 kt in China, mainland as of 2023.

How many years of comparable data are there for China, mainland and OECD?

63 years are reported by both, from 1961 to 2023.

Where does this data come from?

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as Waste — Emissions (CH4). Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

China, mainland vs OECD: Waste — Emissions

China, mainland

12,700 kt

in 2023

OECD

16,440 kt

in 2023

China, mainland rank

3rd

OECD rank

1st

Waste — Emissions over time

China, mainland
OECD

How they compare

OECD currently reports 16,440 kt against 12,700 kt in China, mainland, a difference of 3,740 kt.

That makes OECD's figure about 1.3 times China, mainland's.

Across all 63 years both countries report, OECD has been ahead every year.

China, mainland ranks 3rd and OECD ranks 1st of 232 countries.

OECD has averaged higher in every one of the 7 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade	China, mainland	OECD	Difference	Ahead
1960s	2,753 kt	15,255 kt	12,502 kt	OECD
1970s	3,255 kt	19,550 kt	16,295 kt	OECD
1980s	3,796 kt	20,764 kt	16,968 kt	OECD
1990s	4,496 kt	21,217 kt	16,721 kt	OECD
2000s	6,225 kt	18,012 kt	11,787 kt	OECD
2010s	9,705 kt	15,755 kt	6,050 kt	OECD
2020s	12,125 kt	16,351 kt	4,226 kt	OECD

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher waste — emissions, China, mainland or OECD?: OECD, at 16,440 kt against 12,700 kt in China, mainland as of 2023.
What is the difference in waste — emissions between China, mainland and OECD?: 3,740 kt, with OECD ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for China, mainland and OECD?: 63 years are reported by both, from 1961 to 2023.
How do China, mainland and OECD rank globally for waste — emissions?: China, mainland ranks 3rd and OECD ranks 1st of 232 countries.
Where does this data come from?: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as Waste — Emissions (CH4). Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

China, mainland vs OECD: Waste — Emissions. Statizoid, drawing on Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved 27 September 2026, from https://climate.statizoid.com/compare/waste-emissions-ch4-fao-tier-1/china-mainland/oecd/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://climate.statizoid.com/compare/waste-emissions-ch4-fao-tier-1/china-mainland/oecd/">China, mainland vs OECD: Waste — Emissions</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator: Waste — Emissions (CH4)
Unit: kt
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO)
Coverage: 265 places, 15,268 data points, 1961–2023
Last refreshed: 17 September 2026

The FAOSTAT domain on Emissions Totals summarizes the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions disseminated in the FAOSTAT Climate Change domains of emissions from agrifood systems. Data are computed following the Tier 1 methods of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines for National greenhouse gas (GHG) Inventories (IPCC, 1996; 1997; 2000; 2002; 2006; 2014). Emissions from other economic sectors as defined by the IPCC are also disseminated in the domain for completeness. Methodological details can be found at: https://files-faostat.fao.org/production/GT/GT_en.pdf