**9. Global phosphorus consumption**

Due to the growing world population and increasing demand for food consumption, the growing demand for bioenergy crops will affect the future P-use particularly *Sustainable Management of Phosphorus in Agriculture for Environmental Conservation DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.113086*


#### **Table 2.**

*Global anticipated phosphorus consumption.*

when grown on additional marginal land with low P-status. From 1961 to 2013, total global P-consumption has increased five folds, to 31 million metric tons [106]. For 2050, with a global population of 9 billion, P-demand would rise by 40 and 96% for current and affluent diets, respectively [107]. **Table 2** shows the anticipated global P-consumption in developed and developing countries.

In 2020, China was the country with the largest consumption of phosphate fertilizers, with more than 11 million metric tons, which was followed by India and Brazil, with 8.98 and 6.04 million metric tons, respectively [108]. That year, ammonium phosphate was the most consumed phosphate fertilizer (over 25 million metric tons of P2O5) worldwide, followed by complex nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium (NPK) fertilizers (over 12 million metric tons of P2O5), as reported by Statista [109]. World consumption of P2O5 contained in fertilizer products increased by 7% in crop year 2021 compared with that in crop year 2020 [110]. The increases in world consumption and trade were driven by high crop prices, increased planted crop areas, and increased crop exports. This was a continuation of the trend that began late in 2020, as markets rebounded from poor weather conditions in the growing season. South America and Asia were leading regions of growth in consumption of phosphate fertilizer in terms of percentage increase over that in 2020. With the continuous rise in P-consumption, it is necessary to develop a system approach for addressing P supply, demand, and loss.
