West Africa
How municipal waste could grow in five West African countries
The World Bank’s 2026 waste model puts Nigeria at 45.74 million tonnes of municipal solid waste in 2022 and projects 113.77 million tonnes in 2050 under its baseline assumptions. The dataset keeps its modelled figures separate from older country reports.
Sources checked
- Benin1.493 million t
- Côte d’Ivoire5.27 million t
- Ghana3.976 million t
- Nigeria45.737 million t
- Senegal3.106 million t
Natural Earth land outlines and dashed land boundaries.
Switch years and select a marker to see the estimated or projected annual tonnage.
Nigeria’s projection is about two and a half times its baseline
The 2022 modelled total was 45.74 million tonnes. It increases to 57.32 million in 2030 and 113.77 million in 2050. Daily waste per resident also increases in the model, so population change alone does not account for the projected tonnage. Source 1
Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana had different projections
The model puts Côte d’Ivoire at 5.27 million tonnes in 2022 and 15.41 million in 2050. Ghana goes from 3.98 million to 10.54 million over the same period. These projections are conditional on the baseline model. Source 1
The country reports use different observation dates
Ghana’s reported 3.29 million tonnes is from 2017, and Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria and Senegal have reported values for 2021. The workbook has no reported national tonnage for Benin in the selected series. Benin’s 2022 and 2050 rows are both modelled. Source 1
Waste generated differs from waste collected
Municipal solid waste generation measures waste produced. The dataset treats collection and disposal as separate processes. A higher modelled total does not show what fraction would be collected or what capacity would be needed at a particular facility. Source 1 Source 2