FAOSTAT cropland nutrient balance (1961-)

No commercial useFreshLicense: CC-BY-4.0

Downloads are disabled for this dataset: its license prohibits commercial use. The documentation, schema and sample rows stay available here.

Cropland nutrient balance from FAO's FAOSTAT domain (ESB): flows of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium from mineral fertilizers, manure applied, atmospheric deposition, biological nitrogen fixation and seed, and crop harvest/residue removal, leaching and volatilisation, ~200 countries and territories x 1961-2023, with FAO-published total inputs, total outputs, nutrient balance (inputs minus outputs, negative where soils are mined), nutrient use efficiency (%), per-hectare intensity, input shares of mineral fertilizer and manure, world shares, within-year ranks and trailing 10-year input changes. Who joins this: agri-environment desks read negative balances as soil-mining flags and falling efficiency as over-fertilization; policy teams track NPK balances against fertilizer-subsidy and water-quality targets; ag economists join balances on (area, year) to yield and fertilizer-use panels.

Source: FAOSTAT Cropland Nutrient Balance Intelligence
Rows: 34,263
Columns: 31
Source cadence: Yearly
Last refreshed: Oct 11, 2026
Theme: agriculture

Column	Type	Description
area_code	integer	FAOSTAT numeric area code (countries and territories; regional aggregates such as World and EU27 are excluded from this panel). (unit: string)
area_code_m49	string	UN M49 code for the area, as published by FAOSTAT. (unit: string)
area	string	FAOSTAT area name. (unit: string)
year	integer	Reference year (1961-2023). Panel join key with area_code and nutrient. (unit: year)
nutrient	string	Nutrient: N (nitrogen), P (phosphorus) or K (potassium). Panel join key with area_code and year. (unit: string)
nutrient_name	string	FAOSTAT element name for the nutrient. (unit: string)
input_t	float	Total nutrient inputs over cropland, in tonnes (FAOSTAT 'Input': mineral fertilizers + manure applied + atmospheric deposition + biological fixation + seed). Non-negative upstream; honestly null where unpublished — never imputed. (unit: tonnes)
input_kg_per_ha	float	Total nutrient inputs per hectare of cropland, in kg/ha (FAOSTAT, published for the Input item). Honestly null where unpublished upstream. (unit: kg/ha)
outputs_t	float	Total nutrient outputs from cropland, in tonnes (FAOSTAT 'Outputs'). Non-negative upstream; honestly null where unpublished — never imputed. (unit: tonnes)
outputs_kg_per_ha	float	Total nutrient outputs per hectare of cropland, in kg/ha (FAOSTAT, published for the Outputs item). Honestly null where unpublished upstream. (unit: kg/ha)
balance_t	float	Nutrient balance over cropland, in tonnes (FAOSTAT 'Nutrient balance' = inputs − outputs). NEGATIVE by design where soils are mined — this is a real published value, never clipped. Identity-gated upstream: equals input_t − outputs_t wherever all three are published. (unit: tonnes)
balance_kg_per_ha	float	Nutrient balance per hectare of cropland, in kg/ha (FAOSTAT, published for the Nutrient balance item). Negative by design where soils are mined. (unit: kg/ha)
efficiency_pct	float	Nutrient use efficiency, in percent (FAOSTAT: 100 × outputs/inputs, published for the Nutrient balance item). No upper gate — FAO publishes values above 100. Honestly null where unpublished. (unit: percent)
mineral_fertilizers_t	float	Nutrient from mineral fertilizers, in tonnes. Published flow component in tonnes (FAOSTAT domain ESB). Honestly null where unpublished upstream — never imputed. (unit: tonnes)
manure_applied_t	float	Nutrient from manure applied, in tonnes. Published flow component in tonnes (FAOSTAT domain ESB). Honestly null where unpublished upstream — never imputed. (unit: tonnes)
atmospheric_deposition_t	float	Nutrient from atmospheric deposition, in tonnes. Published flow component in tonnes (FAOSTAT domain ESB). Honestly null where unpublished upstream — never imputed. (unit: tonnes)
biological_fixation_t	float	Nutrient from biological fixation (nitrogen only in practice), in tonnes. Published flow component in tonnes (FAOSTAT domain ESB). Honestly null where unpublished upstream — never imputed. (unit: tonnes)
seed_t	float	Nutrient from seed, in tonnes. Published flow component in tonnes (FAOSTAT domain ESB). Honestly null where unpublished upstream — never imputed. (unit: tonnes)
crop_harvest_removal_t	float	Nutrient removed by crop harvest, in tonnes. Published flow component in tonnes (FAOSTAT domain ESB). Honestly null where unpublished upstream — never imputed. (unit: tonnes)
crop_residue_removal_t	float	Nutrient removed with crop residues, in tonnes. Published flow component in tonnes (FAOSTAT domain ESB). Honestly null where unpublished upstream — never imputed. (unit: tonnes)
leaching_t	float	Nutrient lost through leaching, in tonnes. Published flow component in tonnes (FAOSTAT domain ESB). Honestly null where unpublished upstream — never imputed. (unit: tonnes)
volatilisation_t	float	Nutrient lost through volatilisation, in tonnes. Published flow component in tonnes (FAOSTAT domain ESB). Honestly null where unpublished upstream — never imputed. (unit: tonnes)
input_share_mineral_pct	float	Mineral fertilizers' share of the published total inputs, in percent. Null when the total or the component is unpublished or the total is zero. (unit: percent)
input_share_manure_pct	float	Manure applied's share of the published total inputs, in percent. Null when the total or the component is unpublished or the total is zero. (unit: percent)
input_world_share_pct	float	The area's share of the FAO World aggregate total inputs, in percent (kept verbatim; can marginally exceed 100 — FAO's World aggregate is estimated independently). (unit: percent)
balance_world_share_pct	float	The area's share of the FAO World aggregate nutrient balance, in percent (kept verbatim). Sign preserved: a soil-mining country shows a negative share of a world surplus. (unit: percent)
input_t_rank	integer	Within-(year, nutrient) rank of input_t across countries (1 = largest inputs; ties share a rank). (unit: rank)
balance_t_rank	integer	Within-(year, nutrient) rank of balance_t across countries (1 = largest surplus; deficit countries rank low; ties share a rank). (unit: rank)
input_t_10y_change_pct	float	Trailing 10-year percent change of total nutrient inputs for the same area and nutrient (exact year-10 match); null in the first 10 years and where either endpoint is unpublished. (unit: percent)
balance_flag	string	FAOSTAT observation flag of the published balance t cell (A/E/I/X/P/...); empty when unflagged. (unit: string)
row_hash	string	Deterministic 16-hex sha256 of area_code + year + nutrient + the headline measures and balance_flag (idempotency key). (unit: string)

First 10 sample rows — a preview, not the complete dataset.

area_code	area_code_m49	area	year	nutrient	nutrient_name	input_t	input_kg_per_ha	outputs_t	outputs_kg_per_ha	balance_t	balance_kg_per_ha	efficiency_pct	mineral_fertilizers_t	manure_applied_t	atmospheric_deposition_t	biological_fixation_t	seed_t	crop_harvest_removal_t	crop_residue_removal_t	leaching_t	volatilisation_t	input_share_mineral_pct	input_share_manure_pct	input_world_share_pct	balance_world_share_pct	input_t_rank	balance_t_rank	input_t_10y_change_pct	balance_flag	row_hash
1	051	Armenia	1,992	N	Cropland nitrogen	27,885.447	57.734	8,863.88	18.352	19,021.567	39.382	31.787	15,000	5,617.325	5,995.389	104.862	1,167.872	8,863.88	3,563.75	2,623.465	6,185.198	53.791	20.144	0.022	0.027	123	112	—	E	50b3e0ba9b0f2957
1	051	Armenia	1,993	N	Cropland nitrogen	25,542.899	51.811	9,025.574	18.308	16,517.326	33.504	35.335	15,000	2,865.319	6,165.089	143.823	1,368.668	9,025.574	3,676.544	2,073.064	5,359.596	58.725	11.218	0.02	0.024	125	115	—	E	b52a225ee1482f41
1	051	Armenia	1,994	N	Cropland nitrogen	17,643.38	35.287	7,969.737	15.94	9,673.644	19.347	45.171	7,000	2,843.934	6,463.33	183.849	1,152.267	7,969.737	3,171.788	1,268.787	2,953.18	39.675	16.119	0.014	0.014	132	119	—	E	ab19dde948ae270a
1	051	Armenia	1,995	N	Cropland nitrogen	18,041.234	36.521	8,220.991	16.642	9,820.243	19.879	45.568	7,000	2,812.091	7,017.532	146.67	1,064.942	8,220.991	3,681.53	1,262.418	2,943.627	38.8	15.587	0.014	0.013	133	121	—	E	c3ba795f181081a9
1	051	Armenia	1,996	N	Cropland nitrogen	19,795.338	39.121	9,703.578	19.177	10,091.76	19.944	49.02	8,000	2,784.815	7,629.226	198.594	1,182.702	9,703.578	4,030.776	1,356.963	3,235.445	40.414	14.068	0.014	0.013	133	119	—	E	6b30614c70fa6ea3
1	051	Armenia	1,997	N	Cropland nitrogen	19,885.978	39.932	7,891.913	15.847	11,994.065	24.085	39.686	8,000	2,449.959	8,249.18	154.911	1,031.927	7,891.913	3,200.67	1,289.992	3,134.988	40.229	12.32	0.015	0.016	132	120	—	E	483b5592234e3c53
1	051	Armenia	1,998	N	Cropland nitrogen	21,187.15	42.976	9,624.82	19.523	11,562.33	23.453	45.428	9,610	2,376.987	8,014.58	129.82	1,055.763	9,624.82	4,095.046	1,437.397	3,599.096	45.358	11.219	0.015	0.015	131	119	—	E	8468f742385ac36f
1	051	Armenia	1,999	N	Cropland nitrogen	17,928.164	36.738	9,085.341	18.618	8,842.823	18.121	50.676	6,129	2,806.588	7,818.489	145.945	1,028.142	9,085.341	4,005.427	1,177.118	2,689.376	34.186	15.655	0.013	0.012	132	123	—	E	15b3701d443c1324
1	051	Armenia	2,000	N	Cropland nitrogen	18,524.504	37.96	7,425.324	15.216	11,099.18	22.744	40.084	7,000	2,756.526	7,782.574	153.673	831.73	7,425.324	3,099.801	1,251.305	2,926.958	37.788	14.88	0.013	0.015	131	117	—	E	73b62daff994e1a9
1	051	Armenia	2,001	N	Cropland nitrogen	16,942.067	34.365	10,362.906	21.02	6,579.161	13.345	61.167	5,000	2,728.214	7,834.851	127.353	1,251.65	10,362.906	4,223.675	1,045.643	2,318.464	29.512	16.103	0.012	0.009	134	125	—	E	6bb889f4b11b8f87

Profiled Oct 11, 2026 from snapshot 20261011T042208Z-2b2b984c3ddc

Measured

Completeness: 90.7%
Rows: 34,263
Columns: 31
Columns with gaps: 11

Rows per yearyear · 1961–2023 · 63 years

19612023

Column	Missing	Distinct	Range	Distribution
area_codebigint	0%	201	1 → 351median 120	600 outside 1st–99th percentile
area_code_m49varchar	0%	183	—	004189 008189 012189
areavarchar	0%	197	—	Afghanistan189 Albania189 Algeria189
yearbigint	0%	60	1,961 → 2,023median 1,994
nutrientvarchar	0%	3	—	K11,421 N11,421 P11,421
nutrient_namevarchar	0%	3	—	Cropland nitrogen11,421 Cropland phosphorus11,421 Cropland potassium11,421
input_tdouble	0%	40,024	1.36 → 42,757,460median 22,803	686 outside 1st–99th percentile
input_kg_per_hadouble	0%	40,085	0.1035 → 20,476median 22.1	684 outside 1st–99th percentile
outputs_tdouble	0%	29,974	0 → 17,478,452median 16,899	686 outside 1st–99th percentile
outputs_kg_per_hadouble	0%	30,682	0 → 762.68median 13.88	686 outside 1st–99th percentile
balance_tdouble	0%	43,261	-1,951,027 → 28,063,758median 3,310	686 outside 1st–99th percentile
balance_kg_per_hadouble	0%	37,123	-555.52 → 20,413median 6.45	686 outside 1st–99th percentile
efficiency_pctdouble	0%	33,752	0 → 12,272median 62.17	686 outside 1st–99th percentile
mineral_fertilizers_tdouble	0.18%	18,288	-146.91 → 30,981,667median 5,247	343 outside 1st–99th percentile
manure_applied_tdouble	0.55%	29,070	2.44 → 7,062,552median 8,566	682 outside 1st–99th percentile
atmospheric_deposition_tdouble	66.7%	10,070	0.4232 → 3,761,173median 6,813	230 outside 1st–99th percentile
biological_fixation_tdouble	68.5%	9,266	0 → 12,095,733median 7,346	108 outside 1st–99th percentile
seed_tdouble	0.15%	26,431	0 → 567,546median 550.73	343 outside 1st–99th percentile
crop_harvest_removal_tdouble	0.15%	29,680	0.1231 → 17,478,452median 16,971	681 outside 1st–99th percentile
crop_residue_removal_tdouble	0%	30,775	0 → 8,581,485median 5,970	685 outside 1st–99th percentile
leaching_tdouble	66.7%	10,593	0 → 4,075,361median 5,683	226 outside 1st–99th percentile
volatilisation_tdouble	66.7%	9,146	0 → 10,784,098median 11,158	224 outside 1st–99th percentile
input_share_mineral_pctdouble	0.18%	43,641	-12.91 → 99.96median 36.93	343 outside 1st–99th percentile
input_share_manure_pctdouble	0.55%	38,865	1.23 → 100median 46.73	682 outside 1st–99th percentile
input_world_share_pctdouble	0%	30,741	0 → 47.03median 0.0532	686 outside 1st–99th percentile
balance_world_share_pctdouble	0%	28,860	-19.67 → 77.48median 0.0149	686 outside 1st–99th percentile
input_t_rankbigint	0%	220	1 → 194median 91	498 outside 1st–99th percentile
balance_t_rankbigint	0%	220	1 → 194median 91	498 outside 1st–99th percentile
input_t_10y_change_pctdouble	17.5%	23,184	-96.36 → 7,031median 17.45	566 outside 1st–99th percentile
balance_flagvarchar	0%	1	—	E34,263
row_hashvarchar	0%	40,016	—	0001847b3c633eea1 0003ac1b98d69ee91 00050362bdec6b1e1

Point any LLM at the metadata endpoint — the documentation above is machine-readable too (JSON-LD + Croissant).

cURL

curl "https://datazimuts.com/v1/datasets/faostat_nutrient_balance_intel/cropland_nutrient_balance_annual" | jq '{title, rows, columns_count, license}'

Python

import requests

ds = requests.get("https://datazimuts.com/v1/datasets/faostat_nutrient_balance_intel/cropland_nutrient_balance_annual").json()
print(ds["title"], ds["rows"], "rows")

# Sample rows for an LLM context window
for row in ds.get("sample_rows", [])[:5]:
    print(row)

API endpoint: https://datazimuts.com/v1/datasets/faostat_nutrient_balance_intel/cropland_nutrient_balance_annual

Tip: fetch /llms.txt for the full machine-readable catalog.

Cite this snapshot

Pinned to snapshot 20261011T042208Z-2b2b984c3ddc and its content hash, so readers get exactly the data you used.

APA

FAOSTAT Cropland Nutrient Balance Intelligence. (2026). FAOSTAT cropland nutrient balance (1961-) [Data set, snapshot 20261011T042208Z-2b2b984c3ddc, sha256 2b2b984c3ddc]. Datazimuts. Retrieved 2026-10-11, from https://datazimuts.com/en/datasets/faostat_nutrient_balance_intel/cropland_nutrient_balance_annual?snapshot=20261011T042208Z-2b2b984c3ddc

BibTeX

@misc{dz_faostat_nutrient_balance_intel_cropland__2b2b984c,
  title        = {{FAOSTAT cropland nutrient balance (1961-)}},
  author       = {{FAOSTAT Cropland Nutrient Balance Intelligence}},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Datazimuts},
  howpublished = {\url{https://datazimuts.com/en/datasets/faostat_nutrient_balance_intel/cropland_nutrient_balance_annual?snapshot=20261011T042208Z-2b2b984c3ddc}},
  note         = {Snapshot 20261011T042208Z-2b2b984c3ddc, sha256 2b2b984c3ddc9689f2e18c23e6590e21d7defdf1ec8510060139176d31a6b0e4; accessed 2026-10-11}
}

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<iframe src="https://datazimuts.com/embed/chart?dataset=faostat_nutrient_balance_intel%2Fcropland_nutrient_balance_annual&lang=en&theme=auto&snapshot=20261011T042208Z-2b2b984c3ddc&x=year&y=area_code&agg=avg" title="FAOSTAT cropland nutrient balance (1961-)" width="100%" height="380" style="border:0" loading="lazy"></iframe>