China vs India: Reported passenger kilometers
China
1.47 trillion passenger-kilometers
in 2019
India
1.16 trillion passenger-kilometers
in 2017
China rank
1st
India rank
2nd
Reported passenger kilometers over time
- China
- India
How they compare
China currently reports 1.47 trillion passenger-kilometers against 1.16 trillion passenger-kilometers in India, a difference of 309.33 billion passenger-kilometers.
That makes China's figure about 1.3 times India's.
The two have swapped places 3 times across 28 shared years of data; in 1990 it was India ahead.
China ranks 1st and India ranks 2nd of 63 countries.
India has averaged higher in every one of the 3 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | China | India | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 341.00 billion passenger-kilometers | 343.94 billion passenger-kilometers | 2.94 billion passenger-kilometers | India |
| 2000s | 603.27 billion passenger-kilometers | 640.36 billion passenger-kilometers | 37.09 billion passenger-kilometers | India |
| 2010s | 1.10 trillion passenger-kilometers | 1.11 trillion passenger-kilometers | 7.85 billion passenger-kilometers | India |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher reported passenger kilometers, China or India?
- China, at 1.47 trillion passenger-kilometers against 1.16 trillion passenger-kilometers in India as of 2019.
- What is the difference in reported passenger kilometers between China and India?
- 309.33 billion passenger-kilometers, with China ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for China and India?
- 28 years are reported by both, from 1990 to 2017.
- How do China and India rank globally for reported passenger kilometers?
- China ranks 1st and India ranks 2nd of 63 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- OECD (2023); OECD (2024) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as Reported passenger kilometers. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Number of kilometers traveled by passengers by rail.