Global polymer production declined slightly to 367 million tons in 2020.

The amount of plastics produced worldwide decreased from 368 million tons in 2019 to 367 million tons in 2020. In Europe, plastics production decreased from 57.9 million tons in 2019 to 55 million tons in 2020. In 2017, production had still been 64.4 million tons. This is according to the latest annual report "Plastics - the Facts 2021" from the association of European plastics manufacturers, Plastics Europe. The 27 EU member states plus Switzerland, Norway and the United Kingdom ("EU 27+3") account for 15 percent of global production, according to the report. China has the largest share of global plastics production at 34 percent (up from 31 percent in 2019), it said. In terms of its contribution to industrial value added, the plastics industry ranks eighth in Europe, thereby on a comparable level like the electrical industry and the pharmaceutical industry, according to the Plastics Europe evaluation. The plastics industry in Europe employed around 1.5 million people in 2020, almost as many as in the previous year. Decreased due to the Covid 19 pandemic, the number of establishments reportedly decreased from 55,000 (2019) to around 52,000 in 2020.