Two-component developer and image forming method

The present invention relates to a two-component developer comprising a toner and a carrier for developing electrostatic images for use in electrophotography, electrostatic recording and electrostatic printing, and an image forming method using the two-component developer. A two-component developer is formed as a mixture of a negatively chargeable toner and a resin-coated carrier. The toner comprises at least a binder resin, a colorant and an organic metal compound. The organic metal compound is an organic zirconium compound having a coordination or/and a bonding of zirconium and an aromatic compound as a ligand or/and an acid source selected from the group consisting of aromatic diols, aromatic hydroxycarboxylic acids, aromatic monocarboxylic acids, and aromatic polycarboxylic acids. The toner further includes an external additive comprising hydrophobized inorganic fine powder having an average primary particle size of 0.001-0.2 m. The resin-coated carrier has a 50%-particle size of 20-70 m.