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Data

Share of global plastic waste emitted to the ocean

About this data

Source
Meijer et al. (2021) – processed by Our World in Data
Last updated
April 30, 2021
Date range
2019–2019
Unit
%
Links
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/18/eaaz5803

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

Meijer et al. (2021). More than 1000 rivers account for 80% of global riverine plastic emissions into the ocean. Science Advances.

Data published by

Meijer et al. (2021). More than 1000 rivers account for 80% of global riverine plastic emissions into the ocean. Science Advances.

Retrieved on
April 30, 2021
Retrieved from
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/18/eaaz5803

How we process data at Our World in Data

All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.

At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.

Read about our data pipeline

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  • All data produced by third-party providers and made available by Our World in Data are subject to the license terms from the original providers. Our work would not be possible without the data providers we rely on, so we ask you to always cite them appropriately (see below). This is crucial to allow data providers to continue doing their work, enhancing, maintaining and updating valuable data.
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Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Share of global plastic waste emitted to the ocean”. Our World in Data (2026). Data adapted from Meijer et al. (2021). More than 1000 rivers account for 80% of global riverine plastic emissions into the ocean. Science Advances.. Retrieved from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260511-092124/grapher/share-of-global-plastic-waste-emitted-to-the-ocean.html [online resource] (archived on May 11, 2026).

How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

Meijer et al. (2021) – processed by Our World in Data

Full citation

Meijer et al. (2021) – processed by Our World in Data. “Share of global plastic waste emitted to the ocean” [dataset]. Meijer et al. (2021). More than 1000 rivers account for 80% of global riverine plastic emissions into the ocean. Science Advances. [original data]. Retrieved May 11, 2026 from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260511-092124/grapher/share-of-global-plastic-waste-emitted-to-the-ocean.html (archived on May 11, 2026).

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