High income: Railways, goods transported (million ton-km)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2021, High income's railways, goods transported (million ton-km) rose 7.8% on 2020 (from 9,554 to 10,299).

Across the 25 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2020), the average change was +0.4% and a typical year strayed about 5.1% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.4 standard deviations above 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 11.9% in 1997 and the biggest yearly fall was 15.8% in 2009. 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 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 3% 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.

What this measures

Goods transported by railway are the volume of goods transported by railway, measured in metric tons times 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, goods transported (million ton-km) in nearby economies

• Algeria — 908 (2019)
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 32,920 (2021)
• Israel — 1,085 (2021)
• Morocco — 3,148 (2021)
• Pakistan — 8,080 (2018)
• Tunisia — 413.3 (2021)

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)
• Fixed telephone subscriptions — 398 million (2025)
• 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)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is High income's railways, goods transported (million ton-km)?

10,299 in 2021, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1995?

It is up 16.29% from 8,856 in 1995 (0.58% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 10,984 in 2018 and the lowest 8,806 in 1996.

Is the latest change in railways, goods transported (million ton-km) unusual for High income?

In 2021, High income's railways, goods transported (million ton-km) rose 7.8% on 2020 (from 9,554 to 10,299). Across the 25 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2020), the average change was +0.4% and a typical year strayed about 5.1% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.4 standard deviations above 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: 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).

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator IS.RRS.GOOD.MT.K6, 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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