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How is the performance of waste management systems (WMS) assessed globally? In order to answer this question, 366 peer-reviewed research articles in English, which assessed the WMS of cities or countries focusing on municipal solid waste (MSW), are systematically reviewed to 1) identify existing correlations between country income group and different considered issues that indicate possible future trends, and 2) categorize assessment methods concerning the suitability for decision makers and for different country income groups and based on this 3) determine the evolution of WMS assessment for the different country categories since the 1980es. The considered issues are the used assessment methods, investigated WMS components, assessment aspects, funding support and outcome of the study. For this systematic review three databases (Web of Science, ScienceDirect and Technik und Management – TEMA) as well as snowballing were used to identify relevant articles. The results show that the assessment of WMS is a crucial and still relevant topic according to the increasing number of publications in the last 40 years. 40% of all reviewed studies used life cycle approaches and their combination with other assessment methods to assess the performance of WMSs. Environmental aspects are the most investigated aspects. Only four studies assessed all defined WMS components. Three different method categorizations are defined: A) data generating methods (e.g. surveys), B) simple assessment methods (e.g. benchmarking) and C) complex assessment methods (e.g. LCA, MCDM, DEA). Type B methods are mostly suitable for decision makers as well as for all investigated country types, regarding the needed data and the simplicity of the methods. Based on the review results, future research should focus more on the development of simple, quick and user-friendly methods with great potential for WMS optimization by ensuring a holistic view to assess the performance of WMSs.