Global Plastics Production

Information Comments (0)

This dataset shows the increase of global plastic production, measured in tonnes per year, from 1950 through to 2019.

In 1950 the world produced only 2 million tonnes per year. Since then, annual production has increased nearly 200-fold, reaching 381 million tonnes in 2015. 

The short downturn in annual production in 2009 and 2010 was predominantly the result of the 2008 global financial crisis — a similar dent is seen across several metrics of resource production and consumption, including energy.

Dataset Identifier
global-plastics-production
Downloads
79
Themes
Climate
Keywords
Plastic Pollution, Plastic, Waste
Modified
1 March 2025 00:01
Publisher
Global Change Data Lab
Reference
https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution
Last checked date
1 March 2025
Country
World
Source copyrights
https://ourworldindata.org/privacy-policy
Data classification
Public
Discontinued Data
No
Unit of measure
million tonnes
Publisher Periodicity
Annually
Expected next release
31 March 2025
Follow

By subscribing to this dataset, you can receive email notifications from the dataset's publisher if important changes happen.

Last processing
1 March 2025 00:01 (metadata)
26 January 2025 12:11 (data)

DCAT

Accrual periodicity
Annually
Temporal
1950-2019
Temporal coverage start date
31 December 1949 21:00
Temporal coverage end date
30 December 2019 21:00

Semantic Metadata

Attachments

Click to expand Click to collapse

Dataset schema

Click to expand Click to collapse
Year
               
No description available for this field.
           
               
                   
                                                  Name (identifier)                                                                         
year
                       		                   
                   
                                                  Type                                                                         
date
                       		                   
                                      
                                                  Sample                                                                         
                       		                   
               
       
   
       
Entity
       
           
               
               
No description available for this field.
           
               
                   
                                                  Name (identifier)                                                                         
entity
                       		                   
                   
                                                  Type                                                                         
text
                       		                   
                                      
                                                  Sample                                                                         
                       		                   
               
       
   
       
Global plastics production (million tonnes)
       
           
               
               
No description available for this field.
           
               
                   
                                                  Name (identifier)                                                                         
values
                       		                   
                   
                                                  Type                                                                         
decimal
                       		                   
                                      
                                                  Sample                                                                         
                       		                   
               
       
   

                                
JSON Schema

                                

                                    The following JSON object is a standardized description of your dataset's schema.
                                    More about JSON schema.
                                

                                
   
{
  • "title":"global-plastics-production",
  • "type":"object",
  • "oneOf":
    [
    • {
      • "$ref":"#/definitions/global-plastics-production"
      }
    ]
    ,
  • "definitions":
    {
    • "global-plastics-production":
      {
      • "properties":
        {
        • "records":
          {
          • "type":"array",
          • "items":
            {
            • "$ref":"#/definitions/global-plastics-production_records"
            }
          }
        }
      }
      ,
    • "global-plastics-production_records":
      {
      • "properties":
        {
        • "fields":
          {
          • "type":"object",
          • "properties":
            {
            • "year":
              {
              • "type":"string",
              • "format":"date",
              • "title":"Year",
              • "description":""
              }
              ,
            • "entity":
              {
              • "type":"string",
              • "title":"Entity",
              • "description":""
              }
              ,
            • "values":
              {
              • "type":"number",
              • "title":"Global plastics production (million tonnes)",
              • "description":""
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
}


                            

                        



                        

                        
                            
   
Similar datasets
   
           
  •            
                   
                                      Share of global plastic waste emitted to the ocean, 2019                          
               
    This dataset shows how global plastics emitted
into the oceans breaks down by region. Data retrieved from Global Change Data
Lab. Follow datasource.kapsarc.org for timely data to advance energy economics
research. 
           
  •            
                   
                                      global plastic waste                          
               
    This dataset is originally from the 'insights about the Third Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) to Develop an International Legally Binding Instrument on Plastic Pollution', by Julio Arboleda and Nawaf Al-Nafisee.
           
  •            
                   
                                      Global quantity of oil spilled from tankers                          
               
    This dataset
contains the global quantity of oil spilled from tankers per year for the period
1970 – 2023. Data retrieved from Global Change Data Lab. Follow datasource.kapsarc.org for timely data to advance energy economics research. 
           
  •            
                   
                                      Annual average quantity of oil spilled from tankers globally, by decade                          
               
    This dataset contains the annual average
quantity of oil spilled from tankers globally, by decade. Data retrieved from
Global Change Data Lab. Follow datasource.kapsarc.org for timely data to advance energy economics research. 
           
    •