China's railways, passengers carried (million passenger-km) was 946,499 in 2021, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is up 2.71% from 921,541 in 2011 (0.27% a year on average, compounded).
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 946,499 | 2021 |
| Five years earlier | 1.16 million | 2016 |
| Ten years earlier | 921,541 | 2011 |
| Highest | 1.44 million | 2019 |
| Lowest | 328,251 | 2020 |
| Average since 2012 | 1.06 million | 2012–2021 |
| First recorded | 354,261 |
What the numbers say
In 2021, China's railways, passengers carried (million passenger-km) rose 188.3% on 2020 (from 328,251 to 946,499).
Across the 25 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2020), the average change was +2.8% and a typical year strayed about 17.6% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 10.6 standard deviations above that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.
On record, the biggest yearly rise was 188.3% in 2021 and the biggest yearly fall was 77.2% in 2020. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.
From 2012 to 2021 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 2% 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
In 2021, China had the 1st highest value of the 47 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| China | 946,499 | 2021 |
| East Asia & Pacific | 10,789 | 2017 |
| Upper middle income | 1,886 | 2019 |
Closest to China in the 2021 ranking
- India — 2nd of 47: 231,126
- Russian Federation — 3rd of 47: 103,447
- France — 4th of 47: 86,853
What this measures
Passengers carried by railway are the number of passengers transported by rail multiplied by 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 27 values
| Year | Railways, passengers carried (million passenger-km) |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 946,499 |
| 2020 | 328,251 |
| 2019 | 1,438,606 |
| 2018 | 1,361,715 |
| 2017 | 1,266,681 |
| 2016 | 1,160,059 |
| 2015 | 1,109,312 |
| 2014 | 1,089,560 |
| 2013 | 1,008,172 |
| 2012 | 940,249 |
| 2011 |
Railways, passengers carried (million passenger-km) in nearby economies
- Australia — 9,328 (2021)
- Indonesia — 29,066 (2019)
- Japan — 263,211 (2020)
- Korea, Rep. — 100,381 (2019)
- Malaysia — 929.34 (2020)
- Mongolia — 91 (2021)
- Philippines — 384 (2016)
- Thailand — 6,020 (2017)
- Viet Nam — 1,516 (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
Questions people ask
- What is China's railways, passengers carried (million passenger-km)?
- 946,499 in 2021, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 1995?
- It is up 167.18% from 354,261 in 1995 (3.85% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 1.44 million in 2019 and the lowest 328,251 in 2020.
- How does China rank?
- 1st highest of 47 economies with data for 2021.
- Is the latest change in railways, passengers carried (million passenger-km) unusual for China?
- In 2021, China's railways, passengers carried (million passenger-km) rose 188.3% on 2020 (from 328,251 to 946,499). Across the 25 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2020), the average change was +2.8% and a typical year strayed about 17.6% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 10.6 standard deviations above that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.
Source
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator IS.RRS.PASG.KM, 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.
Want to ask your own questions of data like this? Try AnalyzeIt: upload a file or ask about public data in plain words, and every figure comes with its working.
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