Madagascar: Rail lines (total route-km)

Key figures

Since 1995 it is down 23.78% from 883 in 1995 (1.04% a year on average, compounded). The World Bank has no value for 7 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.

What the numbers say

From 2012 to 2021 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains less than 1% of the movement over 8 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 2021, Madagascar had the 55th highest value of the 61 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 Madagascar in the 2021 ranking

• Mauritania — 52nd of 61: 728
• Armenia — 53rd of 61: 698.4
• North Macedonia — 54th of 61: 683
• Gabon — 56th of 61: 648
• Côte d'Ivoire — 57th of 61: 639
• Tajikistan — 58th of 61: 620

What this measures

The total length of rail line in the country operated for passenger transport, goods transport, or both.

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.

All 20 values

Rail lines (total route-km) in nearby economies

• Botswana — 886 (2021)
• Burkina Faso — 518 (2021)
• Cameroon — 884 (2021)
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — 3,641 (2021)
• Côte d'Ivoire — 639 (2021)
• Gabon — 648 (2021)
• Mauritania — 728 (2021)
• Nigeria — 3,528 (2015)
• Sudan — 2,747 (2020)
• Tanzania — 2,701 (2017)

More infrastructure data for Madagascar

• Fixed telephone subscriptions — 3,413 (2023)
• Fixed telephone subscriptions (per 100 people) — 0.01 (2023)
• Air transport, registered carrier departures worldwide — 5,367 (2023)
• Air transport, freight (million ton-km) — 2.49 (2023)
• Air transport, passengers carried — 313,313 (2023)
• Mobile cellular subscriptions — 23.54 million (2023)
• Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people) — 75.46 (2023)
• ICT service exports (BoP, current US$) — US$353.26 million (2025)
• ICT service exports (% of service exports, BoP) — 21.26% (2025)

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Questions people ask

What is Madagascar's rail lines (total route-km)?

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

How has it changed since 1995?

It is down 23.78% from 883 in 1995 (1.04% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 883 in 1995 and the lowest 673 in 2009.

How does Madagascar rank?

55th highest of 61 economies with data for 2021.

Where does this data come from?

The World Bank's World Development Indicators, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Railisa Database, International Union of Railways (UIC), uri: https://uic-stats.uic.org/.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator IS.RRS.TOTL.KM, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Railisa Database, International Union of Railways (UIC), uri: https://uic-stats.uic.org/ 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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