placestats

Economy free of state ownership vs. Fixed broadband

Holds up after adjusting for income

Across 168 countries, Economy free of state ownership and Fixed broadband rise and fall together at r = +0.27 (on a scale from −1 to +1, where 0 means no link). It holds up almost unchanged when only countries with similar income (GDP per person) are compared (r = +0.25, q = 0.030, allowing for the many pairs tested). Caution: much weaker within regions than across them (largely a between-region difference).

Comparing countries across the middle half of economy free of state ownership, -0.0633 to 1.32 points, fixed broadband is better by 5.85 per 100 people at the top of that range than the bottom. Comparing only countries with similar national income, the gap is 3.01 per 100 people.

Link before adjusting (r)+0.274p = 0.000 · 168 countries
After adjusting for national income+0.250p = 0.001 · likely range [+0.10, +0.39]
p, allowing for regions0.002standard error 0.048 · 7 regions
Check for luck (q)0.030across 17,292 pairs

How to read these.r runs from −1 (one goes up as the other goes down) to +1 (they rise together), and 0 means no link. Adjusting for national income means comparing countries with the same GDP per person, so differences in wealth can’t explain the link. Income is used in percentage terms, since an extra $1,000 means more to a poor country than to a rich one. p is how likely a link this strong would be if there were really none. Below 0.05 means it is unlikely to be chance. Very small values are written in short form: 1.1e-32 means a decimal point followed by 31 zeros and then 11, so very close to zero. The likely range is where the true figure probably lies, and a range that crosses zero means the link could easily be chance. Countries in the same region tend to resemble each other, so the third figure allows for that, which gives a fairer p. The standard error is the typical size of the error in r. Finally, testing this many pairs means some will look strong by luck alone. A q below 0.05 means this link is unlikely to be one of those.

Economy free of state ownership · score (higher = less state-owned)link with income +0.21 · independent
Fixed broadband · per 100 peoplelink with income +0.88 · proxy

“Link with income” is how closely each measure tracks GDP per person across countries, from −1 to +1.

Every country as a dot

Economy free of state ownership · score (higher = less state-owned) →Fixed broadband · per 100 people →-2.322.98048.9Afghanistan: -2.32 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.0801 per 100 peopleAngola: -0.661 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.363 per 100 peopleAlbania: 1.51 score (higher = less state-owned), 24.9 per 100 peopleUnited Arab Emirates: -0.838 score (higher = less state-owned), 40.8 per 100 peopleArgentina: 1.21 score (higher = less state-owned), 26.1 per 100 peopleArmenia: 1.43 score (higher = less state-owned), 20.3 per 100 peopleAustralia: 1.44 score (higher = less state-owned), 36.5 per 100 peopleAustria: 0.479 score (higher = less state-owned), 30.1 per 100 peopleAzerbaijan: -1.24 score (higher = less state-owned), 21.8 per 100 peopleBurundi: -0.381 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.0203 per 100 peopleBelgium: 2.08 score (higher = less state-owned), 44.2 per 100 peopleBenin: 1.81 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.277 per 100 peopleBurkina Faso: 0.307 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.851 per 100 peopleBangladesh: 0.741 score (higher = less state-owned), 8.09 per 100 peopleBulgaria: 0.71 score (higher = less state-owned), 37 per 100 peopleBahrain: -0.806 score (higher = less state-owned), 17 per 100 peopleBosnia and Herzegovina: 0.723 score (higher = less state-owned), 29.4 per 100 peopleBelarus: -1.42 score (higher = less state-owned), 36.3 per 100 peopleBolivia: 0.027 score (higher = less state-owned), 12.1 per 100 peopleBrazil: 1.18 score (higher = less state-owned), 24.1 per 100 peopleBarbados: 0.63 score (higher = less state-owned), 37.5 per 100 peopleBhutan: -0.469 score (higher = less state-owned), 2.92 per 100 peopleBotswana: 1.05 score (higher = less state-owned), 7.44 per 100 peopleCentral African Republic: 1.61 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.0161 per 100 peopleCanada: 0.867 score (higher = less state-owned), 42.5 per 100 peopleSwitzerland: 2.22 score (higher = less state-owned), 47 per 100 peopleChile: 1.76 score (higher = less state-owned), 23.7 per 100 peopleChina: -1.13 score (higher = less state-owned), 47.2 per 100 peopleCote d'Ivoire: 0.791 score (higher = less state-owned), 1.6 per 100 peopleCameroon: 0.671 score (higher = less state-owned), 2.13 per 100 peopleCongo, Dem. Rep.: 0.181 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.032 per 100 peopleCongo, Rep.: -1.37 score (higher = less state-owned), 1.27 per 100 peopleColombia: 1.23 score (higher = less state-owned), 17.2 per 100 peopleComoros: 0.592 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.388 per 100 peopleCabo Verde: 1.34 score (higher = less state-owned), 8.31 per 100 peopleCosta Rica: 1.16 score (higher = less state-owned), 23.3 per 100 peopleCyprus: 1.85 score (higher = less state-owned), 37.6 per 100 peopleCzechia: 1.91 score (higher = less state-owned), 38.9 per 100 peopleGermany: 1.96 score (higher = less state-owned), 45.6 per 100 peopleDjibouti: -0.527 score (higher = less state-owned), 1.47 per 100 peopleDenmark: 1.36 score (higher = less state-owned), 43.4 per 100 peopleDominican Republic: 1.12 score (higher = less state-owned), 11.2 per 100 peopleAlgeria: -1.9 score (higher = less state-owned), 13.3 per 100 peopleEcuador: 0.745 score (higher = less state-owned), 17.2 per 100 peopleEgypt, Arab Rep.: -1.14 score (higher = less state-owned), 11.7 per 100 peopleSpain: 1.43 score (higher = less state-owned), 39.2 per 100 peopleEstonia: 1.5 score (higher = less state-owned), 35.4 per 100 peopleEthiopia: -0.625 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.594 per 100 peopleFinland: 1.08 score (higher = less state-owned), 36.5 per 100 peopleFiji: 1.05 score (higher = less state-owned), 1.8 per 100 peopleFrance: 1.05 score (higher = less state-owned), 48.9 per 100 peopleGabon: -0.032 score (higher = less state-owned), 4.69 per 100 peopleUnited Kingdom: 1.47 score (higher = less state-owned), 42.2 per 100 peopleGeorgia: 0.884 score (higher = less state-owned), 30.4 per 100 peopleGhana: 1.51 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.665 per 100 peopleGuinea: 0.717 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.00628 per 100 peopleGambia, The: 1.05 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.519 per 100 peopleGuinea-Bissau: 0.594 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.386 per 100 peopleEquatorial Guinea: -1.45 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.101 per 100 peopleGreece: 1.01 score (higher = less state-owned), 44.7 per 100 peopleGuatemala: 2.12 score (higher = less state-owned), 5.34 per 100 peopleGuyana: -0.045 score (higher = less state-owned), 12.9 per 100 peopleHong Kong SAR, China: 0.874 score (higher = less state-owned), 40.3 per 100 peopleHonduras: 0.854 score (higher = less state-owned), 4.58 per 100 peopleCroatia: 0.02 score (higher = less state-owned), 29.6 per 100 peopleHaiti: 1.54 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.307 per 100 peopleHungary: -0.26 score (higher = less state-owned), 37.5 per 100 peopleIndonesia: -0.268 score (higher = less state-owned), 4.92 per 100 peopleIndia: 0.151 score (higher = less state-owned), 3.15 per 100 peopleIreland: 1.47 score (higher = less state-owned), 32.3 per 100 peopleIran, Islamic Rep.: -1.13 score (higher = less state-owned), 12.1 per 100 peopleIraq: -0.647 score (higher = less state-owned), 17.6 per 100 peopleIceland: 0.131 score (higher = less state-owned), 37.5 per 100 peopleIsrael: 1.23 score (higher = less state-owned), 29.2 per 100 peopleItaly: 1.37 score (higher = less state-owned), 31.8 per 100 peopleJamaica: 0.309 score (higher = less state-owned), 16 per 100 peopleJordan: 1.43 score (higher = less state-owned), 7.02 per 100 peopleJapan: 2.98 score (higher = less state-owned), 38.6 per 100 peopleKazakhstan: 0.272 score (higher = less state-owned), 15.3 per 100 peopleKenya: 1.27 score (higher = less state-owned), 3.04 per 100 peopleKyrgyz Republic: -0.46 score (higher = less state-owned), 7.8 per 100 peopleCambodia: 1.35 score (higher = less state-owned), 4.15 per 100 peopleKorea, Rep.: 1.07 score (higher = less state-owned), 47.8 per 100 peopleKuwait: -0.164 score (higher = less state-owned), 1.01 per 100 peopleLao PDR: -1.13 score (higher = less state-owned), 2.72 per 100 peopleLebanon: 1.15 score (higher = less state-owned), 7.29 per 100 peopleLiberia: 0.754 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.275 per 100 peopleLibya: -0.698 score (higher = less state-owned), 4.52 per 100 peopleSri Lanka: 0.728 score (higher = less state-owned), 8.47 per 100 peopleLesotho: 1.23 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.379 per 100 peopleLithuania: 2.08 score (higher = less state-owned), 27.8 per 100 peopleLuxembourg: 2.12 score (higher = less state-owned), 40.3 per 100 peopleLatvia: 2.17 score (higher = less state-owned), 25.8 per 100 peopleMorocco: 0.666 score (higher = less state-owned), 7.3 per 100 peopleMoldova: 0.971 score (higher = less state-owned), 29.6 per 100 peopleMadagascar: 0.974 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.124 per 100 peopleMaldives: 0.23 score (higher = less state-owned), 19.6 per 100 peopleMexico: 0.8 score (higher = less state-owned), 21.7 per 100 peopleNorth Macedonia: 1.32 score (higher = less state-owned), 29.9 per 100 peopleMali: 1.35 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.774 per 100 peopleMalta: 0.654 score (higher = less state-owned), 44.5 per 100 peopleMyanmar: -1.23 score (higher = less state-owned), 2.87 per 100 peopleMontenegro: 1.43 score (higher = less state-owned), 32.3 per 100 peopleMongolia: 0.495 score (higher = less state-owned), 15.8 per 100 peopleMozambique: -0.076 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.142 per 100 peopleMauritania: 0.557 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.947 per 100 peopleMauritius: 0.759 score (higher = less state-owned), 28 per 100 peopleMalawi: 1.18 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.0864 per 100 peopleMalaysia: -0.536 score (higher = less state-owned), 13.5 per 100 peopleNamibia: 0.078 score (higher = less state-owned), 2.83 per 100 peopleNiger: 0.502 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.111 per 100 peopleNigeria: 1.36 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.0787 per 100 peopleNicaragua: -0.059 score (higher = less state-owned), 5.78 per 100 peopleNetherlands: 1.37 score (higher = less state-owned), 43 per 100 peopleNorway: 1.63 score (higher = less state-owned), 45.2 per 100 peopleNepal: 0.974 score (higher = less state-owned), 10.1 per 100 peopleNew Zealand: 0.417 score (higher = less state-owned), 38 per 100 peopleOman: -0.466 score (higher = less state-owned), 11.1 per 100 peoplePakistan: 0.417 score (higher = less state-owned), 1.47 per 100 peoplePanama: 1.15 score (higher = less state-owned), 18.1 per 100 peoplePeru: 2.21 score (higher = less state-owned), 11.7 per 100 peoplePhilippines: 1.45 score (higher = less state-owned), 7.14 per 100 peoplePapua New Guinea: 0.19 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.233 per 100 peoplePoland: 1.03 score (higher = less state-owned), 25.4 per 100 peoplePortugal: 1.22 score (higher = less state-owned), 45.2 per 100 peopleParaguay: 1.64 score (higher = less state-owned), 12.9 per 100 peopleWest Bank and Gaza: 1.94 score (higher = less state-owned), 8.16 per 100 peopleQatar: -1.47 score (higher = less state-owned), 11.8 per 100 peopleRomania: 0.887 score (higher = less state-owned), 35.8 per 100 peopleRussian Federation: -0.936 score (higher = less state-owned), 27.1 per 100 peopleRwanda: -1.57 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.596 per 100 peopleSaudi Arabia: -1.62 score (higher = less state-owned), 44.1 per 100 peopleSudan: -1.01 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.0604 per 100 peopleSenegal: 0.091 score (higher = less state-owned), 4.04 per 100 peopleSingapore: -0.327 score (higher = less state-owned), 27.8 per 100 peopleSolomon Islands: 0.8 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.107 per 100 peopleSierra Leone: 1.11 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.00227 per 100 peopleEl Salvador: -0.114 score (higher = less state-owned), 12.5 per 100 peopleSomalia, Fed. Rep.: 1.81 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.723 per 100 peopleSerbia: 1.05 score (higher = less state-owned), 33.4 per 100 peopleSao Tome and Principe: 0.51 score (higher = less state-owned), 2.99 per 100 peopleSuriname: 0.176 score (higher = less state-owned), 18.8 per 100 peopleSlovak Republic: 1.6 score (higher = less state-owned), 33.8 per 100 peopleSlovenia: 0.655 score (higher = less state-owned), 34.2 per 100 peopleSweden: 1.37 score (higher = less state-owned), 40.6 per 100 peopleEswatini: -0.829 score (higher = less state-owned), 2.51 per 100 peopleSeychelles: -0.291 score (higher = less state-owned), 31.6 per 100 peopleSyrian Arab Republic: 0.277 score (higher = less state-owned), 6.86 per 100 peopleChad: 0.974 score (higher = less state-owned), 0 per 100 peopleTogo: 0.379 score (higher = less state-owned), 1.42 per 100 peopleThailand: 0.776 score (higher = less state-owned), 14.9 per 100 peopleTajikistan: -2.03 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.984 per 100 peopleTurkmenistan: -1.9 score (higher = less state-owned), 5.22 per 100 peopleTimor-Leste: -0.204 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.006 per 100 peopleTrinidad and Tobago: 0.464 score (higher = less state-owned), 27 per 100 peopleTunisia: -0.049 score (higher = less state-owned), 15 per 100 peopleTurkiye: 0.934 score (higher = less state-owned), 23.4 per 100 peopleTanzania: 0.455 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.246 per 100 peopleUganda: 0.39 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.208 per 100 peopleUkraine: 1.32 score (higher = less state-owned), 21.7 per 100 peopleUruguay: 1.15 score (higher = less state-owned), 33 per 100 peopleUnited States: 1.75 score (higher = less state-owned), 38.9 per 100 peopleUzbekistan: -0.956 score (higher = less state-owned), 34.7 per 100 peopleViet Nam: -0.387 score (higher = less state-owned), 23.7 per 100 peopleVanuatu: 0.615 score (higher = less state-owned), 1.16 per 100 peopleSouth Africa: 1.33 score (higher = less state-owned), 5.35 per 100 peopleZambia: 1.33 score (higher = less state-owned), 0.79 per 100 peopleZimbabwe: -0.957 score (higher = less state-owned), 1.94 per 100 peopleAFGBELBENBLRCHECHNGTMJPNSAUSOMTJKTKM

best-fit line line after adjusting

Four ways to measure the link

MethodrpCountries
Standard (Pearson), not adjusted+0.2740.000168
By rank (Spearman), not adjusted+0.2680.000168
Standard (Pearson), adjusted for national income+0.2500.001168
By rank (Spearman), adjusted for national income+0.1900.014168

The rank version uses only each country’s place in line, from lowest to highest, so a few extreme countries count for less. The adjusted and unadjusted versions use the same 168 countries: those that report both measures and GDP per person. So the gap between them comes from the adjustment, not from a change in which countries are counted. Drop in the size of r after adjusting: +0.024 (a minus sign means it grew).

How solid is it?

Leaving out one country at a time, r ranges from +0.216 (without QAT) to +0.288 (without CHN). The bar above shows that range on a scale from −1 to +1, with the solid line at the full result. The single country that moves r most: CHN (+0.038).

Fragile: this link may not hold up.
  • much weaker within regions than across them (largely a between-region difference)

Within each region

Countries are not separate, unrelated cases, and neighbors share a lot. A link that holds inside each region is far more believable than one that shows up only when comparing regions.

nr
East Asia & Pacific21+0.09
Europe & Central Asia48+0.26
Latin America & Caribbean23-0.02
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan22+0.07
Sub-Saharan Africa46+0.09

By income third

If the link shows up only in the richest third of countries, it is a feature of rich countries, not a general pattern.

nr
Poorest third56+0.14
Middle third56-0.01
Richest third56+0.45

By largest religious group

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
Christians99+0.16
Muslims48-0.02

By last European coloniser

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
France25-0.08
Never a European colony21+0.09
Spain19+0.12
United Kingdom49+0.32

By official ideology

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
Nationalist25+0.33
No strong official ideology116+0.30

By party system

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
A few parties banned26+0.09
No parties banned121+0.27

Without outliers (countries far outside the middle half of countries on either measure, by more than one and a half times the width of that middle half): r = +0.266 after dropping 1 countries.

Two series, one country

Both measures over the years for one country you pick. The two charts are stacked so they share only the years along the bottom.

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Over time, within countries

Everything above compares countries with each other at one moment. This section compares each country only with itself over 27years. So a link here can’t come from anything about a country that stays the same, such as its history, geography, institutions or culture.

Within countries over time, there is no link that is clearly more than chance (r = -0.026, comparing each country only with itself over the years, and each year only with the same year elsewhere). Whatever the cross-country picture shows, countries whose economy free of state ownership moved did not tend to see their fixed broadband move with it.

Across countries (adjusted)+0.250for comparison
Within countries-0.078each country vs itself
…and vs the same year elsewhere-0.026q = 0.774 · 172 countries
Year-on-year changes-0.013q = 0.587
Read with care.
  • Almost all of this indicator's variation is between countries, not within them, so the within-country estimate rests on a small part of the data.

3,685 country-years (one country in one year), 172 countries, 1998–2024, about 21 years each on average. Share of the variation that happens within countries over time: 6% for Economy free of state ownership, 38% for Fixed broadband. The margins of error allow for each country appearing many times, and for each year’s value being close to the year before.

Year-to-year changes are a cautious test, not a final answer. Looking only at changes from one year to the next removes each country’s own trends. But it also makes measurement mistakes louder, which pulls the results toward zero. A near-zero result here is weak evidence of no link, not proof.

With one measure years behind the other

0.10−0.1-100+10years Fixed broadband trails Economy free of state ownership →lag -10: r = -0.059 (n = 2,199)lag -9: r = -0.062 (n = 2,378)lag -8: r = -0.060 (n = 2,550)lag -7: r = -0.068 (n = 2,708)lag -6: r = -0.061 (n = 2,879)lag -5: r = -0.060 (n = 3,048)lag -4: r = -0.052 (n = 3,219)lag -3: r = -0.041 (n = 3,390)lag -2: r = -0.030 (n = 3,546)lag -1: r = -0.022 (n = 3,686)lag +0: r = -0.026 (n = 3,685)lag +1: r = -0.014 (n = 3,684)lag +2: r = -0.006 (n = 3,683)lag +3: r = 0.003 (n = 3,682)lag +4: r = 0.013 (n = 3,681)lag +5: r = 0.025 (n = 3,680)lag +6: r = 0.037 (n = 3,679)lag +7: r = 0.044 (n = 3,678)lag +8: r = 0.048 (n = 3,672)lag +9: r = 0.064 (n = 3,661)lag +10: r = 0.062 (n = 3,644)

Same year (lag 0): -0.026. A peak away from zero does not show which comes first. These series change slowly — this year’s value is close to last year’s. That makes the curve smooth and nearly symmetric, whatever produced the data. Even a sharp peak at one lag (a gap of some years) would not prove that one measure changes the other.

The data


score (higher = less state-owned)
per 100 people		Years
Japan JPN2.9838.62025, 2023
Switzerland CHE2.22472025, 2024
Peru PER2.2111.72025, 2024
Latvia LVA2.1725.82025, 2024
Luxembourg LUX2.1240.32025, 2024
Guatemala GTM2.125.342025, 2024
Lithuania LTU2.0827.82025, 2024
Belgium BEL2.0844.22025, 2024
Germany DEU1.9645.62025, 2024
West Bank and Gaza PSE1.948.162025, 2024
Czechia CZE1.9138.92025, 2024
Cyprus CYP1.8537.62025, 2024
Benin BEN1.810.2772025, 2024
Somalia, Fed. Rep. SOM1.810.7232025, 2023
Chile CHL1.7623.72025, 2024

Coppedge, M. et al., V-Dem Dataset v16, Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project; Lindberg, S. I. et al., Varieties of Party Identity and Organization (V-Party) Dataset. Read from the V-Dem Institute's vdemdata package.
World Bank, World Development Indicators

Sources

Economy free of state ownership

State ownership of the economy (higher = less owned by the state)

V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · updated annual (V-Dem); V-Party per election, to 2019

Does the state own or directly control the important parts of the economy? Experts answer from 0 ("virtually all valuable capital belongs to the state") to 4 ("very little valuable capital belongs to the state"), and V-Dem turns their answers into a score that runs from about -4 to +4. So a low score means a mostly state-run economy, as in North Korea or Eritrea, and a high score a mostly private one. It is about ownership and control, not taxes or welfare: a country can tax and spend a great deal while the state owns almost nothing. Today it lines up only weakly with how rich a country is. Oil states such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait are rich while the state owns much of the economy, and some of the poorest countries, such as Somalia, Haiti and the Central African Republic, have little state ownership. The link with income was stronger in the 1960s and has weakened every decade since. Within Europe and Central Asia, where former communist countries sold off state firms, it is still strong. No "better" direction is set: how much the state should own is a political question.

Fixed broadband

Fixed broadband subscriptions (per 100 people)

International Telecommunication Union · CC BY 4.0 · updated quarterly

Subscriptions, not people. A household line counts once, however many people use it. A country that went straight to mobile data can be well connected with few of these lines. Internet users, already on the site, is the measure of people.

How this was computed

Data used: most recent value in 2010-2025; values come from 2021–2025. To adjust for income, each measure is first predicted from GDP per person (in percentage terms, on a log scale) with a straight-line fit. Only what is left over is then compared. This is called a partial correlation. The line is drawn the standard way (ordinary least squares), which picks the line that comes closest to all the countries at once. The error margins allow for countries in the same region resembling each other, using 7 World Bank regions. The q-value corrects for testing all 17,292 pairs at once, using the Benjamini–Hochberg method. Underlying data last updated V-Dem v16; V-Party v2. How the country data works · explore Economy free of state ownership and Fixed broadband

This page shows that two measures go together. It does not show that Economy free of state ownership changes Fixed broadband, or the reverse. These figures also describe countries, not individual people. See the ecological fallacy.

More links with Economy free of state ownership or Fixed broadband