Germany: Railways, passengers carried (million passenger-km)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2020, Germany's railways, passengers carried (million passenger-km) fell 42.3% on 2019 (from 102,026 to 58,822).

Across the 24 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2019), the average change was +1.5% and a typical year strayed about 2.2% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 20.4 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 5.4% in 2005 and the biggest yearly fall was 42.3% 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 2011 to 2020 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 2020, Germany had the 2nd highest value of the 15 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.

Closest to Germany in the 2020 ranking

• Japan — 1st of 15: 263,211
• United Kingdom — 3rd of 15: 24,189
• United States — 4th of 15: 12,460
• Ukraine — 5th of 15: 10,696

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 26 values

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

• Albania — 0.81 (2021)
• Armenia — 55 (2017)
• Austria — 8,433 (2021)
• Azerbaijan — 104 (2021)
• Belarus — 4,486 (2021)
• Belgium — 6,970 (2021)
• Bosnia and Herzegovina — 15 (2020)
• Bulgaria — 1,205 (2021)
• Croatia — 540 (2021)
• Czechia

More infrastructure data for Germany

• Fixed telephone subscriptions — 38.4 million (2024)
• Fixed telephone subscriptions (per 100 people) — 45.42 (2024)
• Air transport, registered carrier departures worldwide — 655,842 (2023)
• Air transport, freight (million ton-km) — 12,767 (2023)
• Air transport, passengers carried — 80.2 million (2023)
• Mobile cellular subscriptions — 109.2 million (2024)
• Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people) — 129.15 (2024)
• Patent applications, nonresidents — 19,177 (2024)
• Patent applications, residents — 40,085 (2024)
• ICT service exports (BoP, current US$)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
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Questions people ask

What is Germany's railways, passengers carried (million passenger-km)?

58,822 in 2020, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1995?

It is down 17.13% from 70,977 in 1995 (0.75% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 102,026 in 2019 and the lowest 58,822 in 2020.

How does Germany rank?

2nd highest of 15 economies with data for 2020.

Is the latest change in railways, passengers carried (million passenger-km) unusual for Germany?

In 2020, Germany's railways, passengers carried (million passenger-km) fell 42.3% on 2019 (from 102,026 to 58,822). Across the 24 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2019), the average change was +1.5% and a typical year strayed about 2.2% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 20.4 standard deviations below 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.

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