China vs United States: Fixed telephone subscriptions

China
166.51 million
in 2024
United States
81.55 million
in 2024
China rank
1st
United States rank
2nd

Fixed telephone subscriptions over time

  • China
  • United States
0100.0M200.0M300.0M400.0M196019922024

How they compare

China currently reports 166.51 million against 81.55 million in United States, a difference of 84.96 million.

That makes China's figure about 2.0 times United States's.

The two have swapped places 1 time across 50 shared years of data; in 1975 it was United States ahead.

China ranks 1st and United States ranks 2nd of 214 countries.

Across the 6 decades both report, China averaged higher in 3 and United States in 3.

Head to head by decade

Decade China United States Difference Ahead
1970s 1.85 million 85.69 million 83.84 million United States
1980s 3.29 million 114.62 million 111.33 million United States
1990s 43.35 million 158.97 million 115.63 million United States
2000s 285.19 million 175.06 million 110.12 million China
2010s 238.86 million 127.25 million 111.60 million China
2020s 177.59 million 91.27 million 86.32 million China

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher fixed telephone subscriptions, China or United States?
China, at 166.51 million against 81.55 million in United States as of 2024.
What is the difference in fixed telephone subscriptions between China and United States?
84.96 million, with China ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for China and United States?
50 years are reported by both, from 1975 to 2024.
How do China and United States rank globally for fixed telephone subscriptions?
China ranks 1st and United States ranks 2nd of 214 countries.
Where does this data come from?
World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), published as Fixed telephone subscriptions. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

China vs United States: Fixed telephone subscriptions. Statizoid, drawing on World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Retrieved 22 September 2026, from https://infrastructure.statizoid.com/compare/fixed-telephone-subscriptions/china/united-states/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://infrastructure.statizoid.com/compare/fixed-telephone-subscriptions/china/united-states/">China vs United States: Fixed telephone subscriptions</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Fixed telephone subscriptions
Source
World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
261 places, 14,489 data points, 1960–2025
Last refreshed

Fixed telephone subscriptions refers to the sum of active number of analogue fixed telephone lines, voice-over-IP (VoIP) subscriptions, fixed wireless local loop (WLL) subscriptions, ISDN voice-channel equivalents and fixed public payphones.