China vs India: Nitrogen fertilizer use

China
24.55 million tonnes
in 2023
India
20.46 million tonnes
in 2023
China rank
1st
India rank
2nd

Nitrogen fertilizer use over time

  • China
  • India
010.0M20.0M30.0M196119922023

How they compare

China currently reports 24.55 million tonnes against 20.46 million tonnes in India, a difference of 4.09 million tonnes.

That makes China's figure about 1.2 times India's.

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

China ranks 1st and India ranks 2nd of 201 countries.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator
Nitrogen fertilizer use
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
202 places, 10,271 data points, 1961–2023
Last refreshed

Measures total nitrogen inputs, including synthetic fertilizers alongside organic inputs from manure and crop fixation. Measured in tonnes of nitrogen.