Fertilizers & Agricultural Chemicals Data: From Farm-Gate Bags to Global Nutrient Balances · Head-to-head
Eurostat Usefert vs World Bank Fertilizer Consumption: Two Measures of Fertiliser Use
Which fertilizers & agricultural chemicals data: from farm-gate bags to global nutrient balances data fits your job: Eurostat — Consumption of inorganic fertilisers, or World Bank — Fertilizer consumption indicator. API, files, or your warehouse. Daily, weekly, or hourly.
Eurostat — Consumption of inorganic fertilisers (aei_fm_usefert)
World Bank — Fertilizer consumption indicator (AG.CON.FERT.ZS)
Where the fields line up
1 shared field — join on these.
| Field | Eurostat — Consumption of inorganic fertilisers | World Bank — Fertilizer consumption indicator |
|---|---|---|
value | Tonnes of the nutrient in inorganic fertiliser used in agriculture during the reference year. | Kilograms of plant nutrient consumed per hectare of arable land; null wherever no observation exists, which is frequent for early decades and smaller economies. |
Coverage, side by side
| Eurostat — Consumption of inorganic fertilisers | World Bank — Fertilizer consumption indicator | |
|---|---|---|
| Geographic | EU-27 aggregate, member states at NUTS 0, selected NUTS 2 regions, Poland at NUTS 1, plus Norway, Switzerland, Albania and Turkey — 211 codes | Roughly 260 economies plus world, regional and income-group aggregates |
| Temporal | 1995–2024, 30 annual observations; most country series complete from 2000 onwards | 1961–2023, about six decades of annual observations |
| Granularity | Geography x nutrient x year — separate N and P rows | One annual observation per country |
What each contains
They tie on 1 attribute. Pick by fit, not by loyalty.
| Eurostat — Consumption of inorganic fertilisers | World Bank — Fertilizer consumption indicator | |
|---|---|---|
| Geography | EU-27 aggregate, member states at NUTS 0, selected NUTS 2 regions, Poland at NUTS 1, plus Norway, Switzerland, Albania and Turkey — 211 codes | Roughly 260 economies plus world, regional and income-group aggregates |
| Temporal reach | 1995–2024, 30 annual observations; most country series complete from 2000 onwards | 1961–2023, about six decades of annual observations |
| Granularity | Geography x nutrient x year — separate N and P rows | One annual observation per country |
| Scale | 5,184 observations across 2 nutrients x 211 geographies x 30 years | On the order of 16,000 records, with gaps where data are unavailable |
| Unit | Tonne of elemental nutrient | Kilogram per hectare of arable land |
| Best for | European nutrient accounting, NUTS-level detail, nitrogen-versus-phosphorus splits | Global cross-country benchmarking and long-run intensity history |
Or take both in one feed
They stack well because they barely overlap: the World Bank indicator supplies the long global intensity backdrop, Eurostat supplies the European tonnage and nutrient split underneath the policy story. A common shape: rank economies on kg per hectare with the World Bank series, then open up the EU cases with Eurostat's nitrogen and phosphorus tonnages and Farm to Fork trajectory.
Three practical notes from the records. Mind the nutrient scope — potash is inside the World Bank blend and outside Eurostat's pair, so the figures will never reconcile exactly. Map the keys before joining: ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes on one side, Eurostat geo codes on the other, with aggregates like EU27_2020 and world needing exclusion on both sides. And treat recent years gently — Eurostat marks estimated and provisional values explicitly, while the World Bank leaves latest-year revisions unflagged. Or take both in one feed.
API, files, or your warehouse. Daily, weekly, or hourly.
Fair questions
Is Eurostat's inorganic fertiliser dataset better than the World Bank fertilizer consumption indicator?
Better depends on the deliverable. The Eurostat dataset wins on precision: tonnes of nitrogen and phosphorus separated, 211 European geographies including selected NUTS 2 regions, and explicit estimated/provisional flags. The World Bank indicator wins on breadth and normalization: roughly 260 economies as kilograms per hectare of arable land back to 1961. Sample both, match each to the question.
Which fertiliser dataset reaches further back in time?
The World Bank indicator, decisively: its country-year series run from 1961 through 2023, about six decades of fertilizer intensity. Eurostat's Consumption of inorganic fertilisers covers 1995 to 2024, thirty reference years, with the most complete country series running from 2000 onwards. For anything pre-1995, only the World Bank series has it.
Do both datasets cover the whole world?
No. The World Bank indicator covers roughly 260 economies plus world, regional and income-group aggregates. Eurostat covers the EU-27 aggregate, every member state, some NUTS 2 regions, Poland at NUTS 1, and four neighbours: Norway, Switzerland, Albania and Turkey. Outside Europe, Eurostat has no rows at all.
Why do the two fertiliser consumption figures disagree for the same country?
They measure different things. Eurostat reports absolute tonnes of elemental nitrogen and phosphorus; the World Bank reports kilograms of nitrogenous, phosphate and potash fertilisers per hectare of arable land. Potash appears only in the World Bank blend, Eurostat's figures lean on sales records that can overstate actual farm use, and a few Eurostat members report crop years rather than calendar years.
Can I get fertiliser use data below country level?
Only from the Eurostat side, and only partly: its 211 geographic codes include selected NUTS 2 regions and Poland at NUTS 1 alongside the country-level majority. The World Bank indicator publishes exactly one observation per country per year with no subnational detail. Neither series reaches farm or field level.
Are the field definitions in these datasets documented?
Both records in Datadory's catalog carry verified field dictionaries. The Eurostat dictionary defines the frequency, nutrient, unit, geography, year, tonnage value and quality-status flags; the World Bank dictionary defines the indicator identifier, country name and codes, ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 join key, year, the kg-per-hectare value, and the observation-metadata fields.