In an image forming apparatus and an image density control method that are capable of suppressing the amount of toner consumed for a purpose other than image formation and responding to variation in the development ability of a development device due to environmental variation and the like such that a constant image density is obtained, the image density is maintained at a substantially fixed level by first target output value correcting means in accordance with a toner replacement amount and without consuming toner, and adjustment of the image density accompanying variation in the development ability due to environmental variation and the like is dealt with by second target output value correcting means in accordance with a toner pattern detection result. Hence, the frequency with which the toner pattern is detected in order to maintain the image density at a fixed level can be reduced in comparison with a case in which the image density is maintained at a fixed level on the basis of the toner pattern detection result alone, and as a result, the toner consumption amount can be suppressed.