Image forming method and image forming apparatus

An image forming method comprising:

• forming a latent electrostatic image on a latent electrostatic image bearing member;
• developing the latent electrostatic image using a toner to form a visible image;
• transferring the visible image to a recording medium;
• and
• fixing a transfer image transferred on the recording medium,
• wherein the toner comprises a toner base particle containing at least a binder resin, a colorant and inorganic fine particles, and a charge control agent, and
• wherein the condition Xsurf>Xtotal is satisfied (where Xsurf represents an average proportion of the inorganic fine particles present in a near-surface region of the toner base particle, and Xtotal represents an average proportion of the inorganic fine particles present in the whole toner base particle),
• wherein the average proportion Xsurf is an average proportion of the inorganic fine particles present in the toner base particle in a region within 200 nm from the surface thereof.