Global fertilizer consumption has increased substantially since 1950, while the world's population has grown from 2.5 to 6 billion.

The fall at the beginning of the 1990s was due to the collapse of fertilizer consumption in the countries of Central Europe and the Former Soviet Union (FSU)*, following structural changes and economic problems.

* FSU is now referred as Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA)

In some developing countries, plant nutrition has become unbalanced in favour of nitrogen.

In 1960 developed countries accounted for 88% of the world fertilizer consumption. By 2001 their share had fallen to 37%, developing countries accounting for 63%. Developing Asia - South, South-east Asia and China - alone accounts for 49%.

The plant nutrients phosphate and potassium may be expressed as their elemental forms P and K or as their oxide forms P₂O₅ and K₂O. Here we use the oxide form. Nitrogen is expressed as N.

2^nd edition, October 2002