High income's fixed telephone subscriptions was 398 million in 2025, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is down 26.02% from 538 million in 2015 (2.97% a year on average, compounded).
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 398 million | 2025 |
| Five years earlier | 469 million | 2020 |
| Ten years earlier | 538 million | 2015 |
| Highest | 613.82 million | 1999 |
| Lowest | 83.85 million | 1960 |
| Average since 2016 | 462.98 million | 2016–2025 |
| First recorded | 83.85 million |
What the numbers say
In 2025, High income's fixed telephone subscriptions fell 3.4% on 2024 (from 412 million to 398 million).
Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1979 to 2024), the average change was +2.2% and a typical year strayed about 3.6% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.6 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 42.1% in 1975 and the biggest yearly fall was 3.8% in 2023. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.
From 2016 to 2025 the straight-line trend is downward, about 14.3 million a year. A straight line explains 100% 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.
How it compares
See how every economy compares in the full ranking.
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| High income | 398 million | 2025 |
| World | 815 million | 2025 |
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 51 values
| Year | Fixed telephone subscriptions |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 398,000,000 |
| 2024 | 412,000,000 |
| 2023 | 427,000,000 |
| 2022 | 444,000,000 |
| 2021 | 459,000,000 |
| 2020 | 469,000,000 |
| 2019 | 479,900,000 |
| 2018 | 498,500,000 |
| 2017 | 515,300,000 |
| 2016 | 527,100,000 |
| 2015 |
Fixed telephone subscriptions in nearby economies
- Afghanistan — 181,963 (2023)
- Algeria — 6.93 million (2024)
- Bahrain — 256,054 (2024)
- Djibouti — 28,673 (2023)
- Egypt, Arab Rep. — 13.25 million (2024)
- Iran, Islamic Rep. — 28.23 million (2024)
- Iraq — 5.28 million (2024)
- Israel — 2.56 million (2023)
- Jordan — 485,928 (2024)
- Kuwait — 572,621 (2023)
- Lebanon — 924,461 (2022)
More infrastructure data for High income
- Fixed telephone subscriptions (per 100 people) — 28 (2025)
- Air transport, registered carrier departures worldwide — 21.53 million (2023)
- Air transport, freight (million ton-km) — 157,754 (2023)
- Air transport, passengers carried — 2.59 billion (2023)
- Industrial design applications, nonresident, by count — 235,953 (2024)
- Industrial design applications, resident, by count — 317,282 (2024)
- Patent applications, nonresidents — 723,652 (2024)
- Patent applications, residents — 918,140 (2024)
- Mobile cellular subscriptions — 2.01 billion (2025)
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is High income's fixed telephone subscriptions?
- 398 million in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 1960?
- It is up 374.67% from 83.85 million in 1960 (2.43% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 613.82 million in 1999 and the lowest 83.85 million in 1960.
- Is the latest change in fixed telephone subscriptions unusual for High income?
- In 2025, High income's fixed telephone subscriptions fell 3.4% on 2024 (from 412 million to 398 million). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1979 to 2024), the average change was +2.2% and a typical year strayed about 3.6% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.6 standard deviations below that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.
- Where does this data come from?
- The World Bank's World Development Indicators, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
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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