Countries by Fertilizer consumption (% of fertilizer production)

Ranking 2023

Values shown in %.

Analysis

This metric measures fertilizer consumption as a percentage of domestic fertilizer production. A value above 100% means a country consumes more than it produces, implying net imports; a value below 100% means it exports more than it consumes. The indicator covers nitrogenous, potash, and phosphate fertilizers including ground rock phosphate. As the source note states: 'Fertilizer consumption measures the quantity of plant nutrients and is calculated as production plus imports minus exports. Fertilizer products cover nitrogenous, potash, and phosphate fertilizers (including ground rock phosphate). Traditional nutrients--animal and plant manures--are not included. Because some chemical compounds used for fertilizers have other industrial applications, the consumpt[ion figures may reflect non-agricultural uses as well].' Data are drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator code AG.CON.FERT.PT.ZS). This ranking covers 84 countries, meeting the 80-country coverage threshold. Of those, 96.4% have data from the last 7 years, and 100% of datapoints are classified as official quality. Ten extreme outliers were identified at the 3-sigma threshold, and the data year is 2023.

The top of the ranking is dominated by countries with minimal domestic fertilizer production but substantial agricultural sectors. Estonia ranks 1st at 20,163.27%, and France ranks 2nd at 7,180.74% — both consuming many times their domestic output. Uruguay (rank 3, 1,885.23%), Finland (rank 4, 1,716.04%), and Tanzania (rank 5, 1,550.75%) also appear in the top five, all with values well above 1,000%. Sri Lanka (rank 6, 1,461.40%) and Brazil (rank 7, 718.30%) continue the pattern. These high values indicate that domestic fertilizer production is very low relative to agricultural demand, so consumption is almost entirely import-driven.

Countries near and around 100% are largely self-sufficient in fertilizer. The United States ranks 42nd at 100.79%, sitting almost exactly at the break-even point between net importer and net exporter status. China ranks 43rd at 92.03%, consuming slightly less than it produces. Moving further down, major fertilizer-producing and exporting nations appear: Russia ranks 71st at 13.48%, Belarus ranks 72nd at 12.68%, and Morocco ranks 76th at 5.34%. At the very bottom, Qatar (rank 83, 0.19%) and Bahrain (rank 84, 0.06%) produce far more fertilizer than they consume domestically. A notable anomaly is North Korea (rank 12, 472.44%), which ranks higher than many larger agricultural economies, suggesting very low domestic production relative to consumption.

This metric has several important limitations. Because the value is a ratio of consumption to production, countries with very small production bases will show extremely large percentages even if their absolute consumption is modest — this likely explains Estonia's rank-1 value of 20,163.27%. The indicator does not separately report consumption volumes or production volumes, so a country with tiny production and tiny consumption can still appear near the top. The source note acknowledges that some chemical compounds used as fertilizers have other industrial applications, which can distort reported consumption figures. Countries that do not produce any fertilizer at all cannot be represented in this ratio and are excluded. Reporting reliability may also vary, particularly for countries in conflict or with limited statistical capacity, which can affect year-over-year consistency.

Methodology

This ranking uses World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code AG.CON.FERT.PT.ZS, for the data year 2023. The metric expresses fertilizer consumption as a percentage of fertilizer production. Per the source definition: 'Fertilizer consumption measures the quantity of plant nutrients and is calculated as production plus imports minus exports. Fertilizer products cover nitrogenous, potash, and phosphate fertilizers (including ground rock phosphate). Traditional nutrients--animal and plant manures--are not included. Because some chemical compounds used for fertilizers have other industrial applications, the consumpt[ion data may include non-agricultural uses].' The dataset covers 84 countries, exceeding the 80-country threshold. Of these, 96.4% have data from the last 7 years, and 100% of datapoints are classified as official quality. Ten extreme outliers were identified using a 3-sigma threshold, including Estonia (20,163.27%) and France (7,180.74%). The value range spans from 0.06% to 20,163.27%, a spread of over 32 million percent. Average year-over-year change is 38.1%, below the 50% volatility threshold. Data for 2023 were available for 72 of 84 countries (85.7%), with remaining countries using the most recent available year within the last 7 years.

Sources

• World Bank