Countries by Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from Agriculture (Mt CO2e)
China ranks first in nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from agriculture at 249.49 Mt CO2e, followed by India at 200.37 Mt CO2e and Brazil at 146.31 Mt CO2e. At the opposite end, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, and Palau all record 0.00 Mt CO2e. The gap between the top and bottom of the ranking spans nearly 250 Mt CO2e, reflecting the combined weight of agricultural scale, livestock populations, and crop management intensity.
Ranking 2024
Analysis
This metric measures annual nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from the agricultural sector, expressed in megatonnes of CO2 equivalent (Mt CO2e) using AR5 global warming potentials. According to the source definition, it covers 'emissions from livestock (IPCC 2006 codes 3.A.1 enteric fermentation, 3.A.2 manure management) and crops (IPCC 2006 codes 3.C.1 Emissions from biomass burning, 3.C.2 Liming, 3.C.3 Urea application, 3.C.4 Direct N2O Emissions from managed soils, 3.C.5 Indirect N2O emissions from managed soils).' The indicator code is EN.GHG.N2O.AG.MT.CE.AR5, sourced from the World Bank World Development Indicators, with a data year of 2024. Coverage is high: 201 countries are included, 100% have data from the last 7 years, 100% of datapoints are classified as official quality, and 198 of 201 countries (98.5%) report data for the latest year. The viability checks flagged 40 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold, consistent with the metric's wide range of 0.00 to 249.49 Mt CO2e.
The top four countries account for a disproportionate share of global agricultural N2O emissions. China leads at 249.49 Mt CO2e (Rank 1), India follows at 200.37 Mt CO2e (Rank 2), Brazil at 146.31 Mt CO2e (Rank 3), and the United States at 137.66 Mt CO2e (Rank 4). These four countries alone represent countries with large agricultural land areas, significant livestock inventories, and extensive use of nitrogen inputs. Russia (Rank 5, 52.57 Mt CO2e) and Pakistan (Rank 6, 52.23 Mt CO2e) are close together and substantially below the top four. Australia (Rank 8, 38.62 Mt CO2e) and Ethiopia (Rank 9, 35.52 Mt CO2e) are notable high-ranking countries, reflecting large livestock sectors relative to their overall economic profiles.
Several counterintuitive placements appear in the middle and lower portions of the ranking. New Zealand (Rank 37, 9.33 Mt CO2e) ranks higher than many larger economies, including Italy (Rank 40, 7.96 Mt CO2e) and the Philippines (Rank 41, 7.86 Mt CO2e), reflecting its livestock-intensive agricultural structure relative to its land area and population. Ireland (Rank 42, 7.79 Mt CO2e) similarly ranks above Kazakhstan (Rank 43, 7.76 Mt CO2e) despite being a much smaller country. Belarus (Rank 28, 13.32 Mt CO2e) ranks above South Africa (Rank 29, 12.82 Mt CO2e) and Uzbekistan (Rank 30, 12.69 Mt CO2e). At the lower end, small island economies such as Kiribati (Rank 186, 0.0031 Mt CO2e), Tuvalu (Rank 191, 0.0013 Mt CO2e), and Nauru (Rank 197, 0.0002 Mt CO2e) record near-zero emissions, consistent with minimal agricultural activity.
Several data limitations are relevant to this metric. Nitrous oxide emissions from agriculture are often estimated using activity data and emission factors rather than direct measurement, which introduces uncertainty — particularly for livestock and soil emissions in countries with limited monitoring infrastructure. The metric covers specific IPCC source categories and excludes agricultural emissions outside these categories, such as those from farm machinery fuel combustion. Comparisons across countries may be affected by differences in national reporting methodologies, land classification, and the completeness of activity data. The 40 extreme outliers flagged in viability checks indicate high variance in the dataset, and the presence of territories and semi-autonomous regions (such as Puerto Rico, Guam, and Hong Kong SAR) alongside sovereign states affects how aggregated global totals should be interpreted.
Methodology
Data are drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code EN.GHG.N2O.AG.MT.CE.AR5, with a reference data year of 2024. The metric reports annual nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from agriculture in megatonnes of CO2 equivalent (Mt CO2e), calculated using AR5 global warming potentials. The source definition states it covers 'emissions from livestock (IPCC 2006 codes 3.A.1 enteric fermentation, 3.A.2 manure management) and crops (IPCC 2006 codes 3.C.1 Emissions from biomass burning, 3.C.2 Liming, 3.C.3 Urea application, 3.C.4 Direct N2O Emissions from managed soils, 3.C.5 Indirect N2O emissions from managed soils).' The ranking covers 201 countries. All 201 countries have data from within the last 7 years, and 100% of datapoints carry official data quality classification. Data for the latest year are available for 198 of 201 countries (98.5%). Viability checks identified 40 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold. The metric's range spans 0.00 to 249.49 Mt CO2e, a spread exceeding 999%. Average year-over-year change across the dataset is 3.6%, indicating relatively stable trends. Higher values indicate greater absolute agricultural N2O emissions.