Based on a comparison of 174 countries in 2020, China ranked the highest in number of fixed lines with 182 mil followed by USA and Japan. On the other end of the scale was Somalia with < 0.001 mil, Sierra Leone with < 0.001 mil and East Timor with 0.002 mil.
Total number of fixed lines reached 855 mil in 2020 in the World according to World Bank. This is 86.4 % more than in the previous year and -43.7 % less than 10 years ago.
Historically, total number of fixed lines reached an all time high of 1,261 mil in 2006 and an all time low of 116 mil in 1969. The average annual growth amounted to 3.11 % since 1960.
The top ranked country, China, accounted for 21.3 % of number of fixed lines in the world. The top 3 countries hold a 40.6 % share while the ten largest countries some 66.2 % in 2020.
Data for more countries are available at Number of Fixed Lines indicator page.
Number of Fixed Lines | Unit | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
Brazil | mil | 43.7 | 42.0 | 40.4 | 38.3 | 33.7 | ||||||||||||||||
Canada | mil | 15.6 | 15.2 | 14.5 | 13.8 | 13.6 | ||||||||||||||||
China | mil | 231 | 207 | 194 | 192 | 191 | ||||||||||||||||
France | mil | 38.9 | 39.0 | 38.7 | 38.1 | 37.8 | ... | |||||||||||||||
Germany | mil | 45.4 | 45.3 | 44.4 | 42.5 | 40.4 | ||||||||||||||||
India | mil | 25.5 | 24.4 | 23.2 | 21.9 | 21.0 | ||||||||||||||||
Iran | mil | 30.4 | 30.9 | 31.1 | 30.5 | 29.0 | ||||||||||||||||
Italy | mil | 20.2 | 20.3 | 20.7 | 20.4 | 19.5 | ||||||||||||||||
Japan | mil | 63.7 | 64.1 | 64.0 | 63.4 | 62.7 | ||||||||||||||||
Mexico | mil | 20.2 | 20.8 | 20.8 | 21.6 | 22.7 | ||||||||||||||||
Russia | mil | 35.6 | 32.3 | 32.0 | 30.1 | 27.7 | ... | |||||||||||||||
South Korea | mil | 28.9 | 28.0 | 26.8 | 25.9 | 24.7 | ||||||||||||||||
Spain | mil | 19.4 | 19.5 | 19.6 | 19.8 | 19.6 | ||||||||||||||||
USA | mil | 125 | 121 | 116 | 110 | 106 | ||||||||||||||||
United Kingdom | mil | 33.2 | 32.6 | 31.8 | 31.5 | 32.7 |