Mongolia: Railways, goods transported (million ton-km)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2021, Mongolia's railways, goods transported (million ton-km) fell 3.3% on 2020 (from 18,972 to 18,345).

Across the 18 yearly changes before that (1997 to 2020), the average change was +8.7% and a typical year strayed about 11.7% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.0 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 31% in 2010 and the biggest yearly fall was 9.3% 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 2012 to 2021 the straight-line trend is upward, about 864.22 a year. A straight line explains 82% of the movement over 9 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 20,252 for 2024. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2019 to 2021 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 3,063, against 4,741 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 2021, Mongolia had the 16th highest value of the 49 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 Mongolia in the 2021 ranking

• Italy — 13th of 49: 24,262
• Sweden — 14th of 49: 23,246
• Austria — 15th of 49: 21,781
• Czechia — 17th of 49: 16,326
• Türkiye — 18th of 49: 15,900
• Lithuania — 19th of 49: 14,566

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 23 values

Railways, goods transported (million ton-km) in nearby economies

• Australia — 453,091 (2021)
• China — 3.02 million (2019)
• Indonesia — 15,573 (2019)
• Japan — 18,340 (2020)
• Korea, Rep. — 6,757 (2021)
• Malaysia — 817.65 (2020)
• New Zealand — 4,444 (2021)
• Viet Nam — 3,759 (2020)

More infrastructure data for Mongolia

• Mobile cellular subscriptions — 4.89 million (2024)
• Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people) — 140.67 (2024)
• Fixed telephone subscriptions — 519,169 (2024)
• Fixed telephone subscriptions (per 100 people) — 14.94 (2024)
• Medium and high-tech exports (% manufactured exports) — 3.72% (2024)
• ICT service exports (BoP, current US$) — US$58.54 million (2025)
• ICT service exports (% of service exports, BoP) — 3.05% (2025)
• Air transport, registered carrier departures worldwide — 7,240 (2023)
• Air transport, freight (million ton-km) — 26.52 (2023)

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 Mongolia's railways, goods transported (million ton-km)?

18,345 in 2021, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1996?

It is up 621.96% from 2,541 in 1996 (8.23% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 18,972 in 2020 and the lowest 2,541 in 1996.

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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