Fertilizer consumption (kilograms per hectare of arable land) by country

What this measures

Fertilizer consumption measures the quantity of plant nutrients used per unit of arable land. Fertilizer products cover nitrogenous, potash, and phosphate fertilizers (including ground rock phosphate). Traditional nutrients--animal and plant manures--are not included. For the purpose of data dissemination, FAO has adopted the concept of a calendar year (January to December). Some countries compile fertilizer data on a calendar year basis, while others are on a split-year basis. Arable land includes land defined by the FAO as land under temporary crops (double-cropped areas are counted once), temporary meadows for mowing or for pasture, land under market or kitchen gardens, and land temporarily fallow. Land abandoned as a result of shifting cultivation is excluded.

Limitations: The FAO has revised the time series for fertilizer consumption and irrigation for 2002 onward. FAO collects fertilizer statistics for production, imports, exports, and consumption through the new FAO fertilizer resources questionnaire. In the previous release, the data were based on total consumption of fertilizers, but the data in the recent release are based on the nutrients in fertilizers. Some countries compile fertilizer data on a calendar year basis, while others compile on a crop year basis (July-June).

Each country's latest available year is shown; countries report on different schedules, so compare years before comparing values.

Ranking

Regions and income groups

More environment indicators

• Fertilizer consumption (% of fertilizer production)
• Agricultural land (sq. km)
• Agricultural land (% of land area)
• Arable land (hectares)
• Arable land (hectares per person)
• Arable land (% of land area)
• Land under cereal production (hectares)
• Permanent cropland (% of land area)
• Forest area (sq. km)
• Forest area (% of land area)
• Agricultural irrigated land (% of total agricultural land)
• Average precipitation in depth (mm per year)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, AG.CON.FERT.ZS, CC BY 4.0. Original source: FAO electronic files and web site, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) View on data.worldbank.org; the full definition is in the World Bank's metadata glossary.