International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste (IDAFLW) - 29 September

Stop food loss and waste. For the people. For our planet.

The United Nations recognizes the importance of reducing food loss and waste. On 19 December 2019, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 74/209 proclaiming 29 September as the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste (IDAFLW). The International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste seeks to promote awareness and collective action to reduce food loss and waste.

Decreasing food loss and waste is, in fact, enshrined in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – within SDG 12, which seeks to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns, Target 12.3 aims to “halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains” by 2030.

The world’s population, currently at 8.2 billion, is expected to grow to close to 9.7 billion people by 2050 (UNDESA, 2024). Ensuring a food secure world – where current and future populations have access to sufficient nutritious food – crucially requires new ways of working, and concerted efforts to improve the sustainability and resilience of agrifood systems globally.

Reducing food loss and waste (FLW) helps to protect natural resources and biodiversity, reduce pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and maximize the use of food produced. It is therefore central to securing efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems, and to improving food security, nutrition and health.

Embracing innovation and fostering circular economy approaches in agrifood systems to prevent, reduce, reuse and repurpose FLW also serves to create new job opportunities, improve livelihoods and generate financial benefits for a range of stakeholders.

Now is the time for everyone – from producers, investors, businesses and supply chain stakeholders to consumers of all ages, as well as academia and research, civil society, and the private and public sectors – to take urgent action to expand and strengthen efforts both individually and collectively, to reduce food loss and waste towards ensuring a food secure world – now and in the future.

Food loss and waste in numbers

• An estimated 13% of food produced is lost globally after harvest and prior to reaching retail shelves based on the most recent estimates (FAO, 2019).

• Recently updated estimates showed that a frightening 19% of food available to consumers – the equivalent of 1.05 billion tonnes – is wasted either by being discarded at retail, in food service settings, or thrown away by households. That’s almost one fifth of all food that reaches the end of the supply chain (UNEP, 2024).

• Collectively, we waste a lot of food at home. In fact, a staggering 60% of food waste is wasted at the household level, 28% from food service, and 12% from retail (UNEP, 2024).

• While all this food is being lost and wasted, an estimated one in thirteen people worldwide experienced hunger in 2025, representing between 608 and 696 million people (7.4-8.5 percent of the global population). Moreover, an estimated 2.1 billion people - 25.8 percent of the global population - experienced moderate or severe food insecurity. (FAO, 2026).

• According to the latest estimates, approximately 2.69 billion (32.7 percent) people in the world cannot afford a healthy diet (FAO, 2026). Among the various food groups, fruits and vegetables - a key component of a nutritious diet - experience the highest percentage of losses, further aggravating this global challenge (FAO, 2019).

• Food loss and waste also contributes to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions from agrifood systems (FAOSTAT, 2025), impacting climate change and environmental sustainability. Reducing food loss and waste is therefore a climate solution, which countries and communities can employ to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect natural resources (IPCC, 2019).

• Food that is never eaten uses up 28% of the world’s agricultural land area (FAO, 2013).

• The global land occupation footprint of food loss and waste, which is the total hectares used to grow food that ends up not being consumed, is about 1.4 billion hectares (FAO, 2013), which is larger than Canada or China.

• Food loss is also a market failure, representing an estimated annual loss of US$400 billion in food value (FAO, 2019).

• Food waste results in the throwing away of more than US$1 trillion worth of food every year (UNEP, 2024).

Inform, engage, educate!

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Previous observances of the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste

FLW Day on social media

Relevant links and resources