Ethiopia's fixed telephone subscriptions was 765,634 in 2024, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is down 6.63% from 820,000 in 2014 (0.68% a year on average, compounded).
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 765,634 | 2024 |
| Five years earlier | 1.25 million | 2019 |
| Ten years earlier | 820,000 | 2014 |
| Highest | 1.25 million | 2019 |
| Lowest | 8,636 | 1960 |
| Average since 2015 | 979,760 | 2015–2024 |
| First recorded | 8,636 | 1960 |
What the numbers say
In 2024, Ethiopia's fixed telephone subscriptions fell 8.2% on 2023 (from 834,103 to 765,634).
Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1992 to 2023), the average change was +6.8% and a typical year strayed about 12.2% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.2 standard deviations below that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.
On record, the biggest yearly rise was 96.9% in 1965 and the biggest yearly fall was 20.1% 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 2015 to 2024 the straight-line trend is downward, about 34,031 a year. A straight line explains 38% of the movement over 9 observed years.
Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.
How it compares
In 2024, Ethiopia had the 63rd highest value of the 146 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 | |
|---|---|---|
| Ethiopia | 765,634 | 2024 |
| World | 815 million | 2025 |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 5 million | 2025 |
| Low income | 7 million | 2025 |
Closest to Ethiopia in the 2024 ranking
- El Salvador — 60th of 146: 885,101
- Sweden — 61st of 146: 796,716
- Puerto Rico (US) — 62nd of 146: 773,022
- Moldova — 64th of 146: 734,202
- Denmark — 65th of 146: 697,867
- Costa Rica — 66th of 146: 610,457
What this measures
Fixed telephone subscriptions refers to the sum of active number of analogue fixed telephone lines, voice-over-IP (VoIP) subscriptions, fixed wireless local loop (WLL) subscriptions, ISDN voice-channel equivalents and fixed public payphones.
Limitations: Operators have traditionally been the main source of telecommunications data, so information on subscriptions has been widely available for most countries. This gives a general idea of access, but a more precise measure is the penetration rate - the share of households with access to telecommunications. During the past few years more information on information and communication technology use has become available from household and business surveys. Also important are data on actual use of telecommunications services. Ideally, statistics on telecommunications (and other information and communications technologies) should be compiled for all three measures: subscriptions, access, and use.
Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a sum.
All 64 values
| Year | Fixed telephone subscriptions |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 765,634 |
| 2023 | 834,103 |
| 2022 | 862,157 |
| 2021 | 885,300 |
| 2020 | 1,000,000 |
| 2019 | 1,252,000 |
| 2018 | no data |
| 2017 | 1,181,000 |
| 2016 | 1,147,000 |
| 2015 | 890,642 |
| 2014 |
Fixed telephone subscriptions in nearby economies
- Angola — 80,267 (2024)
- Benin — 1,350 (2024)
- Botswana — 83,182 (2024)
- Burkina Faso — 81,718 (2024)
- Burundi — 14,363 (2023)
- Cabo Verde — 61,294 (2024)
- Cameroon — 67,507 (2024)
- Central African Republic — 2,088 (2022)
- Chad — 0 (2024)
- Comoros — 8,823 (2023)
- Congo, Dem. Rep. — 0 (2024)
More infrastructure data for Ethiopia
- Fixed telephone subscriptions (per 100 people) — 0.58 (2024)
- Air transport, registered carrier departures worldwide — 147,319 (2023)
- Air transport, freight (million ton-km) — 4,015 (2023)
- Air transport, passengers carried — 15.27 million (2023)
- Mobile cellular subscriptions — 85.95 million (2024)
- Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people) — 65.08 (2024)
- Medium and high-tech exports (% manufactured exports) — 26.92% (2024)
- ICT service exports (BoP, current US$) — US$42.59 million (2024)
- ICT service exports (% of service exports, BoP) — 0.56% (2024)
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is Ethiopia's fixed telephone subscriptions?
- 765,634 in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 1960?
- It is up 8,766% from 8,636 in 1960 (7.26% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 1.25 million in 2019 and the lowest 8,636 in 1960.
- How does Ethiopia rank?
- 63rd highest of 146 economies with data for 2024.
- Is the latest change in fixed telephone subscriptions unusual for Ethiopia?
- In 2024, Ethiopia's fixed telephone subscriptions fell 8.2% on 2023 (from 834,103 to 765,634). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1992 to 2023), the average change was +6.8% and a typical year strayed about 12.2% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.2 standard deviations below that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.
Source
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator IT.MLT.MAIN, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, International Telecommunication Union (ITU) 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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