This dataset consists of annual long-term reconstruction of total N surplus (both agricultural and non-agricultural soils) across Europe at a 5 arcmin spatial resolution for the period 1850 to 2019. The dataset consists of 16 N surplus estimates that account for the uncertainties resulting from input data sources and methodological choices in major components of the N surplus.This dataset offers the flexibility of aggregating the N surplus at any spatial scale of relevance to support water and land management strategies. Data description: 1. Gridded N surplus data (NetCDF format): 16 files, each of them containing 170 years (1850-2019) of gridded data N surplus 2. Aggregated N surplus at European NUTS level (csv format) : 3 files (NUTS 1, NUTS 2, NUTS 3), each of them containing 170 years (1850-2019) of N surplus (mean and standard deviation of 16 estimates). Additionally, a readme file is provided for the NUTS ID's. 3. Aggregated N surplus at European river basins (csv format) : 1 file, each of them containing 170 years (1850-2019) of N surplus (mean and standard deviation of 16 estimates). Additionally, a readme file is provided for the river basin ID's. Unit: kg/ha/yr (ha = physical area of grid cell/NUTS/river basins) Time period: 1850-2019 Further information: Details/Citation: Long-term annual soil nitrogen surplus across Europe (1850-2019) by M. Batool, F.J.Sarrazin, S. Attinger, N.B.Basu, K.Van Meter and R. Kumar. Further queries regardig these datasets can be directed to Masooma Batool (masooma.batool@ufz.de) and Rohini Kumar (rohini.kumar@ufz.de).