The authors propose the evaluation of the level of development of waste management and the factors associated with effectiveness of waste management in the world. Scientific novelty consists in new principle of the selection of factors. This principle based on the balance between the rate of waste generation and the efficiency of utilization, depending on income level in the countries. As a result, the factors affecting the effectiveness of waste management selected and classified by the method of expert evaluation. The algorithms has been proposed for calculate of the indicators of the intensity of waste generation, of the efficiency of utilization, of the balance of waste, of the overall efficiency of waste management. The evaluation of the effectiveness of waste management was applied by method of score of 217 countries of the world for 2018. The study found a correlation between the effectiveness of waste management and the country's per capita income. This evaluation allows classifying countries on the level of per capita income and by the types of balance between the intensity of waste generation and the efficiency of waste utilization. On this basis the authors proposed to form a balanced policy of waste management.