Late-demographic dividend: Railways, passengers carried (million passenger-km)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2020, Late-demographic dividend's railways, passengers carried (million passenger-km) fell 47.8% on 2019 (from 1,112 to 580).

Across the 24 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2019), the average change was +1.2% and a typical year strayed about 20.2% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.4 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 45.6% in 2018 and the biggest yearly fall was 47.8% 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 the straight-line trend is downward, about 59.78 a year. A straight line explains 33% 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 26 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 Late-demographic dividend

• Mobile cellular subscriptions — 2.99 billion (2022)
• Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people) — 126.75 (2022)
• Air transport, registered carrier departures worldwide — 10.65 million (2023)
• Air transport, freight (million ton-km) — 68,499 (2023)
• Air transport, passengers carried — 1.44 billion (2023)
• Fixed telephone subscriptions — 267.09 million (2022)
• Fixed telephone subscriptions (per 100 people) — 12.38 (2022)
• ICT service exports (% of service exports, BoP) — 29.04% (2025)
• Scientific and technical journal articles

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Questions people ask

What is Late-demographic dividend's railways, passengers carried (million passenger-km)?

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

How has it changed since 1995?

It is down 56.46% from 1,332 in 1995 (3.27% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 1,695 in 2018 and the lowest 580 in 2020.

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

In 2020, Late-demographic dividend's railways, passengers carried (million passenger-km) fell 47.8% on 2019 (from 1,112 to 580). Across the 24 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2019), the average change was +1.2% and a typical year strayed about 20.2% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.4 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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