Statizoid

China vs USSR: Nitrogen fertilizer use

China
24.55 million tonnes
in 2023
USSR
7.78 million tonnes
in 1991
China rank
1st
USSR rank
1st

Nitrogen fertilizer use over time

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

How they compare

China currently reports 24.55 million tonnes against 7.78 million tonnes in USSR, a difference of 16.77 million tonnes.

That makes China's figure about 3.2 times USSR's.

The two have swapped places 3 times across 31 shared years of data; in 1961 it was USSR ahead.

China ranks 1st and USSR ranks 1st 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.