Brazil vs China: Fertilizer consumption

Brazil
18.09 million tonnes
in 2023
China
42.72 million tonnes
in 2023
Brazil rank
3rd
China rank
1st

Fertilizer consumption over time

  • Brazil
  • China
020.0M40.0M60.0M196119922023

How they compare

China currently reports 42.72 million tonnes against 18.09 million tonnes in Brazil, a difference of 24.63 million tonnes.

That makes China's figure about 2.4 times Brazil's.

Across all 63 years both countries report, China has been ahead every year.

Brazil ranks 3rd and China ranks 1st of 200 countries.

China has averaged higher in every one of the 7 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade Brazil China Difference Ahead
1960s 353,130 tonnes 2.20 million tonnes 1.85 million tonnes China
1970s 2.09 million tonnes 7.26 million tonnes 5.16 million tonnes China
1980s 3.22 million tonnes 19.36 million tonnes 16.14 million tonnes China
1990s 4.43 million tonnes 31.95 million tonnes 27.52 million tonnes China
2000s 8.43 million tonnes 42.05 million tonnes 33.62 million tonnes China
2010s 13.27 million tonnes 52.09 million tonnes 38.82 million tonnes China
2020s 19.27 million tonnes 43.75 million tonnes 24.47 million tonnes China

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher fertilizer consumption, Brazil or China?
China, at 42.72 million tonnes against 18.09 million tonnes in Brazil as of 2023.
What is the difference in fertilizer consumption between Brazil and China?
24.63 million tonnes, with China ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Brazil and China?
63 years are reported by both, from 1961 to 2023.
How do Brazil and China rank globally for fertilizer consumption?
Brazil ranks 3rd and China ranks 1st of 200 countries.
Where does this data come from?
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as Fertilizer consumption. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator
Fertilizer consumption
Unit
tonnes
Source
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
201 places, 10,286 data points, 1961–2023
Last refreshed

Agricultural use from all fertilizer products (including nitrogenous, potash, and phosphate fertilizers).