Greenland: Fixed telephone subscriptions

Key figures

What the numbers say

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 199.6% in 1975 and the biggest yearly fall was 35.6% in 2007. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2013 to 2022 the straight-line trend is downward, about 1,644 a year. A straight line explains 93% of the movement over 8 observed years.

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

A straight-line projection, tested first

Extending that straight line gives about -1,400 for 2025. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2019 to 2022 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 856.62, against 1,900 for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.

See how a linear trend forecast works and the guide on forecasting without fooling yourself.

How it compares

In 2022, Greenland had the 34th highest value of the 45 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 Greenland in the 2022 ranking

• Micronesia, Fed. Sts. — 31st of 45: 6,476
• Liberia — 32nd of 45: 6,254
• Palau — 33rd of 45: 6,154
• Samoa — 35th of 45: 4,567
• Turks and Caicos Islands — 36th of 45: 4,052
• Tonga — 37th of 45: 3,280

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 56 values

Fixed telephone subscriptions in nearby economies

• Albania — 165,380 (2024)
• Andorra — 53,215 (2024)
• Armenia — 297,328 (2024)
• Austria — 3.48 million (2024)
• Azerbaijan — 1.33 million (2024)
• Belarus — 4.14 million (2024)
• Belgium — 2.49 million (2024)
• Bosnia and Herzegovina — 583,045 (2024)
• Bulgaria — 551,943 (2024)
• Croatia — 1.1 million (2024)
• Cyprus — 245,464 (2024)

More infrastructure data for Greenland

• Fixed telephone subscriptions (per 100 people) — 8.92 (2022)
• Mobile cellular subscriptions — 66,425 (2022)
• Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people) — 118.64 (2022)
• Scientific and technical journal articles — 38.42 (2023)
• Individuals using the Internet (% of population) — 69.48% (2017)
• Fixed broadband subscriptions — 17,908 (2022)
• Fixed broadband subscriptions (per 100 people) — 31.98 (2022)
• ICT goods imports (% total goods imports) — 3.63% (2018)
• ICT goods exports (% of total goods exports) — 0.02% (2018)
• Secure Internet servers

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Greenland's fixed telephone subscriptions?

4,996 in 2022, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1965?

It is up 761.38% from 580 in 1965 (3.85% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 35,983 in 2006 and the lowest 580 in 1965.

How does Greenland rank?

34th highest of 45 economies with data for 2022.

Where is Greenland's fixed telephone subscriptions heading?

From 2013 to 2022 the straight-line trend is downward, about 1,644 a year. A straight line explains 93% of the movement over 8 observed years. Extending that straight line gives about -1,400 for 2025. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2019 to 2022 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 856.62, against 1,900 for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.

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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