Which countries have banned plastic bags?
How single-use plastic bags is treated in 171 countries, from sources last checked September 2026. Choose a country for its classification, the source, and how its neighbours compare.
- Banned 116 countries (68%), including China, India, Pakistan and Nigeria.
- Taxed / charged 33 countries (19%), including Japan, Turkey, United Kingdom and South Africa.
- Partial measures 22 countries (13%), including United States, Indonesia, Brazil and Mexico.
Banned 116
- Afghanistan
- Albania
- Andorra
- Anguilla
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Armenia
- Australia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Bahamas
- Bahrain
- Bangladesh
- Barbados
- Belgium
- Belize
- Benin
- Bhutan
- Botswana
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cameroon
- Canada
- Cape Verde
- Central African Republic
- Chile
- China
- Colombia
- Comoros
- Cook Islands
- Costa Rica
- Côte d'Ivoire
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Djibouti
- Dominica
- Eritrea
- Eswatini
- Ethiopia
- Fiji
- France
- Gabon
- Georgia
- Germany
- Grenada
- Guatemala
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Iceland
- India
- Isle of Man
- Italy
- Jamaica
- Jersey
- Kenya
- Kiribati
- Madagascar
- Maldives
- Mali
- Malta
- Marshall Islands
- Mauritania
- Mauritius
- Micronesia
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Mongolia
- Montenegro
- Morocco
- Nauru
- Nepal
- New Zealand
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Niue
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Palau
- Panama
- Papua New Guinea
- Qatar
- Republic of the Congo
- Romania
- Rwanda
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Samoa
- San Marino
- São Tomé and Principe
- Senegal
- Seychelles
- Solomon Islands
- Somalia
- South Korea
- South Sudan
- Sri Lanka
- Tajikistan
- Tanzania
- Thailand
- The Gambia
- Timor-Leste
- Togo
- Tunisia
- Turks and Caicos Islands
- Tuvalu
- Uganda
- Ukraine
- United Arab Emirates
- Uruguay
- Vanuatu
- Vatican City
- Vietnam
- Yemen
- Zimbabwe
Taxed / charged 33
Partial measures 22
About this data
Compiled from Wikipedia: Phase-out of lightweight plastic bags; sources last checked 17 September 2026. The full dataset is available as JSON.
More on animals & environment
A visual reference compiled from Wikipedia’s law-by-country articles, not legal advice. Laws change and summaries simplify — check a primary source before relying on anything here.