Fig. 1.

Consumption of phosphate fertilizers in teragram P₂O₅ (1 Tg = 10¹² g = 1 million ton) in the world per continent (upper) and per European region (lower) during the period 1960–2012 (FAOSTAT 2014). Note the large drop in fertilizer use at the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s in Europe (upper) and especially Eastern Europe (lower), which resulted from the eastern countries in the former Soviet Union achieving independence and being reassigned (together with their fertilizer use) to Asia rather than Europe