In the past decade, plastic pollution has become one of the most visible environmental issues worldwide. Every year, millions of tonnes of plastic enter the ocean, affecting marine life, coastal communities, and ecosystems.

This visualization, via Visual Capitalist’s Bruno Venditti, ranks the countries responsible for the highest cumulative leakage of mismanaged plastic waste that escaped and washed up on other countries’ beaches from 2010 to 2019.

The data for this visualization comes from the Global Plastic Hub.

Asia Leads in Ocean Plastic Leakage

China is the largest contributor, responsible for over 2.6 million tonnes of plastic waste that ended up on foreign beaches.

It’s followed by the Philippines (1.7 million tonnes), and India (966,000 tonnes).

Rapid economic growth, urbanization, and inadequate waste management systems contribute to these high figures.

Seven of the top 10 countries on the list are in Asia, underlining the region’s central role in the global ocean plastic crisis.

Rank	Country	Tonnes (2010-2019)
1	🇨🇳 China	2,683,631
2	🇵🇭 Philippines	1,695,260
3	🇮🇳 India	966,447
4	🇧🇷 Brazil	639,665
5	🇮🇩 Indonesia	599,020
6	🇳🇬 Nigeria	496,841
7	🇻🇳 Viet Nam	484,457
8	🇹🇷 Turkey	354,441
9	🇹🇭 Thailand	338,685
10	🇲🇾 Malaysia	332,756
11	🇧🇩 Bangladesh	315,755
12	🇻🇪 Venezuela	231,132
13	🏝️ Bird Island	231,132
14	🇲🇲 Myanmar	209,495
15	🇪🇬 Egypt	208,321
16	🇩🇿 Algeria	157,952
17	🇹🇿 Tanzania	114,737
18	🇬🇭 Ghana	107,907
19	🇹🇼 Taiwan, Province of China	97,418
20	🇺🇾 Uruguay	94,544
21	🇹🇳 Tunisia	89,176
22	🇭🇹 Haiti	84,238
23	🇩🇴 Dominican Republic	83,121
24	🇱🇾 Libya	73,477
25	🇲🇿 Mozambique	72,578
26	🇨🇲 Cameroon	67,709
27	🇨🇮 Côte d’Ivoire	57,394
28	🇵🇰 Pakistan	53,641
29	🇦🇴 Angola	52,877
30	🇨🇴 Colombia	47,506
31	🇲🇦 Morocco	44,087
32	🇱🇰 Sri Lanka	41,648
33	🇵🇪 Peru	39,863
34	🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea	36,165
35	🇾🇪 Yemen	35,625
36	🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago	35,244
37	🇧🇯 Benin	32,298
38	🇹🇬 Togo	31,773
39	🇲🇽 Mexico	31,004
40	🇿🇦 South Africa	30,352
41	🇪🇨 Ecuador	29,678
42	🇸🇧 Solomon Islands	27,939
43	🇭🇳 Honduras	26,859
44	🇬🇷 Greece	25,983
45	🇺🇦 Ukraine	25,859
46	🇬🇳 Guinea	25,167
47	🇰🇲 Comoros	24,691
48	🇸🇱 Sierra Leone	23,826
49	🇭🇰 Hong Kong, China	23,471
50	🇷🇺 Russian Federation	20,770
51	🇸🇳 Senegal	19,569
52	🇱🇧 Lebanon	19,420
53	🇬🇹 Guatemala	19,015
54	🇦🇱 Albania	18,501
55	🇺🇸 U.S.	16,910
56	🇵🇦 Panama	16,346
57	🇯🇲 Jamaica	16,260
58	🇧🇿 Belize	15,383
59	🇬🇾 Guyana	15,235
60	🇳🇮 Nicaragua	15,199
61	🇱🇷 Liberia	14,220
62	🇰🇼 Kuwait	12,740
63	🇬🇲 Gambia	12,178
64	🇸🇷 Suriname	11,589
65	🇸🇩 Sudan	11,308
66	🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau	10,819
67	🇮🇷 Iran	10,750
68	🇨🇬 Congo	9,476
69	🇰🇵 Democratic People’s Republic of Korea	8,873
70	🇰🇪 Kenya	7,941
71	🇸🇻 El Salvador	7,504
72	🇳🇱 Netherlands	6,488
73	🇬🇧 UK	6,242
74	🇹🇱 Timor-Leste	6,238
75	🇮🇹 Italy	5,930
76	🇪🇸 Spain	5,708
77	🇪🇸 Canary Islands (Sp.)	5,708
78	🇪🇷 Eritrea	5,677
79	🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea	5,328
80	🇦🇷 Argentina	4,847
81	🇨🇷 Costa Rica	4,384
82	🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia	4,099
83	🇭🇷 Croatia	3,964
84	🇩🇯 Djibouti	3,401
85	🇯🇵 Japan	3,208
86	🇸🇾 Syrian Arab Republic	3,019
87	🇦🇺 Australia	2,920
88	🇦🇺 Ashmore & Cartier Is.	2,920
89	🇰🇷 Republic of Korea	2,865
90	🇲🇷 Mauritania	2,845
91	🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates	2,659
92	🇸🇴 Somalia	2,371
93	🇮🇱 Israel	2,368
94	🇫🇯 Fiji	2,340
95	🇰🇭 Cambodia	2,212
96	🇬🇦 Gabon	2,199
97	🇲🇬 Madagascar	2,132
98	🇩🇪 Germany	1,899
99	🇷🇴 Romania	1,825
100	🇲🇪 Montenegro	1,804
101	🇱🇨 Saint Lucia	1,591
102	🇨🇱 Chile	1,447
103	🇸🇹 Sao Tome and Principe	1,255
104	🇫🇷 France	1,105
105	🇻🇺 Vanuatu	997
106	🇨🇻 Cape Verde	975
107	🇶🇦 Qatar	868
108	🇼🇸 Samoa	809
109	🇧🇳 Brunei Darussalam	797
110	🇵🇹 Portugal	702
111	🇵🇹 Azores Islands (Port.)	702
112	🇵🇹 Madeira Islands (Port.)	702
113	🇬🇩 Grenada	553
114	🇸🇪 Sweden	514
115	🇮🇪 Ireland	508
116	🇻🇨 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	466
117	🇵🇱 Poland	439
118	🇬🇪 Georgia	424
119	🇨🇦 Canada	421
120	🇩🇲 Dominica	408
121	🇫🇮 Finland	397
122	🇳🇦 Namibia	387
123	🇧🇧 Barbados	302
124	🇺🇸 Puerto Rico (USA)	287
125	🇴🇲 Oman	258
126	🇹🇴 Tonga	246
127	🇱🇻 Latvia	211
128	🇧🇭 Bahrain	204
129	🇧🇸 Bahamas	179
130	🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda	172
131	🇫🇲 Micronesia	167
132	🇨🇩 DRC	149
133	🇳🇴 Norway	130

Plastic Waste Doesn’t Stay Local

Plastic debris often travel thousands of kilometers across oceans, carried solely by currents, wind, tides, and time.

For example, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch—a massive swirling zone between California and Hawaii—accumulates plastic from as far as Asia, North America, and South America.

The patch spans around 1.6 million km², comparable to twice the size of Texas.

The annual economic costs due to marine plastic pollution are estimated to be between $6-19 billion. According to the OECD, preventing land-based plastic leakage into the ocean across 38 member countries and 10 major plastic waste emitters in Asia and Africa could cost more than $86 billion.

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