Countries by Railway Length
Complete ranking of 136 countries • km • Data refreshed May 5, 2026
Leader
United States
Field size
136 countries
Lowest rank
Liechtenstein
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About Railway Length Rankings
United States leads all 136 countries in Railway Length with a value of 293.6K km, while Liechtenstein ranks last at 9.00 km. This represents a 32,618-fold difference between the highest and lowest values.
What Railway Length Measures
Railway network length from the frozen public-domain CIA World Factbook snapshot.
Why This Ranking Matters
Examining Railway Length across all countries reveals patterns that might not be obvious at the national level. Regional clusters, outlier nations, and historical trajectories all become clearer when the full global picture is assembled in a single ranking.
Global Range
Values range from 9.00 km (Liechtenstein) to 293.6K km (United States) — a 32.6K-fold difference across 136 countries.
Regional Patterns
European countries lead with 8 entries in the top 20, though representation spans multiple continents. Regional factors clearly play a role, but outliers from other parts of the world show that national policy and geography matter as much as continental trends.
The distribution is highly right-skewed — a few countries have exceptionally high values that pull the average well above the median. The median (2.3K km) is far more representative than the mean (9.5K km).
Notable Outliers
United States stands far above the rest, with a value 96% higher than second-place China. This extraordinary lead suggests unique national circumstances — geographic scale, resource endowment, or policy choices — that set it apart from even its closest competitors.
Continental Leaders
Highest Railway Length
The 5 strongest Railway Length reads.
Lowest Railway Length
The 5 lowest Railway Length reads.
Data Note
Rankings are based on the latest available data from CIA World Factbook (frozen snapshot), covering 136 of 249 countries and territories. Countries without data for this metric are excluded from the ranking. All values represent the most recently reported figures.
