China: Railways, goods transported (million ton-km)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2019, China's railways, goods transported (million ton-km) rose 4.7% on 2018 (from 2.88 million to 3.02 million).

Across the 23 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2018), the average change was +3.7% and a typical year strayed about 6.3% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 13.3% in 2017 and the biggest yearly fall was 13.7% in 2015. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2010 to 2019 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 1% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

Closest to China in the 2019 ranking

• Indonesia — 2nd of 5: 15,573
• Romania — 3rd of 5: 13,312
• Algeria — 4th of 5: 908

What this measures

Goods transported by railway are the volume of goods transported by railway, measured in metric tons times kilometers traveled.

Limitations: Data for transport sectors are not always internationally comparable. Unlike for demographic statistics, national income accounts, and international trade data, the collection of infrastructure data has not been "internationalized." The data from UIC is based on voluntary reporting by railway companies, and can show drastic increases or decreases for some of the years due to lack of reporting by some of the companies in that country.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a median.

All 25 values

Railways, goods transported (million ton-km) in nearby economies

• Australia — 453,091 (2021)
• Indonesia — 15,573 (2019)
• Japan — 18,340 (2020)
• Korea, Rep. — 6,757 (2021)
• Malaysia — 817.65 (2020)
• Mongolia — 18,345 (2021)
• New Zealand — 4,444 (2021)
• Viet Nam — 3,759 (2020)

More infrastructure data for China

• Mobile cellular subscriptions — 1.87 billion (2024)
• Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people) — 131.75 (2024)
• Air transport, registered carrier departures worldwide — 4.91 million (2023)
• Air transport, freight (million ton-km) — 26,170 (2023)
• Air transport, passengers carried — 619.22 million (2023)
• Fixed telephone subscriptions — 166.51 million (2024)
• Fixed telephone subscriptions (per 100 people) — 11.73 (2024)
• ICT service exports (BoP, current US$) — US$73.61 billion (2025)
• ICT service exports (% of service exports, BoP) — 19.14% (2025)
• Industrial design applications, nonresident, by count

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is China's railways, goods transported (million ton-km)?

3.02 million in 2019, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1995?

It is up 131.29% from 1.3 million in 1995 (3.56% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 3.02 million in 2019 and the lowest 1.26 million in 1998.

Is the latest change in railways, goods transported (million ton-km) unusual for China?

In 2019, China's railways, goods transported (million ton-km) rose 4.7% on 2018 (from 2.88 million to 3.02 million). Across the 23 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2018), the average change was +3.7% and a typical year strayed about 6.3% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

Where does this data come from?

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator IS.RRS.GOOD.MT.K6, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Railisa Database (UIC), International Union of Railways (UIC), uri: https://uic-stats.uic.org/select/; OECD Statistics, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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