Europe & Central Asia (excluding high income): Railways, passengers carried (million passenger-km)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2021, Europe & Central Asia (excluding high income)'s railways, passengers carried (million passenger-km) fell 10.3% on 2020 (from 164.5 to 147.5).

Across the 25 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2020), the average change was −4.5% and a typical year strayed about 22.6% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.3 standard deviations below 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 74.4% in 2004 and the biggest yearly fall was 60.3% 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 the straight-line trend is downward, about 46.71 a year. A straight line explains 84% of the movement over 10 observed years.

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

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

Railways, passengers carried (million passenger-km) in nearby economies

• Algeria — 348 (2020)
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 11,231 (2021)
• Israel — 1,956 (2021)
• Morocco — 4,464 (2021)
• Pakistan — 24,903 (2018)
• Saudi Arabia — 134.65 (2018)
• Tunisia — 633.33 (2021)

More infrastructure data for Europe & Central Asia (excluding high income)

• Mobile cellular subscriptions — 299 million (2025)
• Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people) — 117.3 (2025)
• Fixed telephone subscriptions — 29 million (2025)
• Fixed telephone subscriptions (per 100 people) — 11.4 (2025)
• Air transport, freight (million ton-km) — 10,188 (2023)
• Air transport, passengers carried — 156.23 million (2023)
• Air transport, registered carrier departures worldwide — 1.06 million (2023)
• Research and development expenditure (% of GDP)

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Questions people ask

What is Europe & Central Asia (excluding high income)'s railways, passengers carried (million passenger-km)?

147.5 in 2021, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1995?

It is down 85.53% from 1,019 in 1995 (7.16% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 1,019 in 1995 and the lowest 147.5 in 2021.

Is the latest change in railways, passengers carried (million passenger-km) unusual for Europe & Central Asia (excluding high income)?

In 2021, Europe & Central Asia (excluding high income)'s railways, passengers carried (million passenger-km) fell 10.3% on 2020 (from 164.5 to 147.5). Across the 25 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2020), the average change was −4.5% and a typical year strayed about 22.6% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.3 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

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.

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