Which has higher fixed telephone subscriptions, Sub-Saharan Africa or Syria?

Sub-Saharan Africa, at 5.00 million against 2.84 million in Syria as of 2025.

What is the difference in fixed telephone subscriptions between Sub-Saharan Africa and Syria?

2.16 million, with Sub-Saharan Africa ahead.

How many years of comparable data are there for Sub-Saharan Africa and Syria?

64 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2024.

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.

Sub-Saharan Africa vs Syria: Fixed telephone subscriptions

Sub-Saharan Africa

5.00 million

in 2025

Syria

2.84 million

in 2024

Sub-Saharan Africa rank

38th

Syria rank

37th

Fixed telephone subscriptions over time

Sub-Saharan Africa
Syria

How they compare

Sub-Saharan Africa currently reports 5.00 million against 2.84 million in Syria, a difference of 2.16 million.

That makes Sub-Saharan Africa's figure about 1.8 times Syria's.

Across all 64 years both countries report, Sub-Saharan Africa has been ahead every year.

Sub-Saharan Africa ranks 38th and Syria ranks 37th of 48 groups.

Sub-Saharan Africa has averaged higher in every one of the 7 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade	Sub-Saharan Africa	Syria	Difference	Ahead
1960s	947,959	46,936	901,023	Sub-Saharan Africa
1970s	1.66 million	117,496	1.54 million	Sub-Saharan Africa
1980s	3.53 million	398,982	3.13 million	Sub-Saharan Africa
1990s	6.60 million	931,290	5.67 million	Sub-Saharan Africa
2000s	11.15 million	2.78 million	8.37 million	Sub-Saharan Africa
2010s	10.81 million	3.60 million	7.21 million	Sub-Saharan Africa
2020s	6.80 million	2.83 million	3.97 million	Sub-Saharan Africa

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher fixed telephone subscriptions, Sub-Saharan Africa or Syria?: Sub-Saharan Africa, at 5.00 million against 2.84 million in Syria as of 2025.
What is the difference in fixed telephone subscriptions between Sub-Saharan Africa and Syria?: 2.16 million, with Sub-Saharan Africa ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Sub-Saharan Africa and Syria?: 64 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2024.
How do Sub-Saharan Africa and Syria rank globally for fixed telephone subscriptions?: Sub-Saharan Africa ranks 38th and Syria ranks 37th of 48 groups.
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

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: 260 places, 14,482 data points, 1960–2025
Last refreshed: 06 August 2026

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.