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Correlation between microplastics estimation and human development index
Summary
Researchers analyzed the relationship between mismanaged municipal plastic waste (MMPW) and the Human Development Index (HDI) across countries with rivers flowing to the sea. They found that MMPW increases with HDI in lower-income nations but decreases with HDI in high-income countries, revealing that economic development patterns shape plastic pollution generation in contrasting ways.
Plastic, which is difficult to degrade, leads to a series of ecological problems for the marine environment. However, plastic pollution flux is difficult to estimate. The human development index (HDI) is potentially related to microplastic generation. In this study, we collected MMPW and HDI data of most countries in the world with rivers flowing into the sea. The result shows that the MMPW values in HIC countries (Median = 0.0056 kg/cap/day) is significantly lower than that of LI (Median = 0.032 kg/cap/day), LMI (Median = 0.067 kg/cap/day), UMI (Median = 0.046 kg/cap/day). MMPW increases with HDI in countries with relatively low income (LI, LMI) but decreases with HDI in countries with high income (HIC), indicating the impact different economic development patterns have on microplastic generation. This study helps us gain insight into the relationship between economic development and microplastic pollution, hence provide a more accurate method for global plastic estimation.
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