Average annual concentration of microplastics in surface waters (rivers)

This statistic estimates the average annual concentration of microplastic particles present in river surface waters (typically expressed as particles per cubic meter). It provides a country-level picture of how much microplastic pollution is present in freshwater systems that often act as major pathways transporting plastic to the ocean.

The underlying values are generally derived from a combination of river monitoring datasets (where available) and model-based reconstructions that link mismanaged plastic waste, hydrology, population density, and river transport processes. The metric is useful for comparing relative microplastic burdens across countries, identifying likely leakage hotspots, and tracking progress where waste-management and plastic-reduction policies are implemented.