placestats

Fixed broadband vs. Hours worked (PWT)

Holds up after adjusting for income

Across 127 countries, Fixed broadband and Hours worked (PWT) rise and fall together at r = -0.52 (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 = -0.45, q = 0.015, allowing for the many pairs tested).

Comparing countries across the middle half of hours worked (PWT), 1,647 to 2,178 hours per year, fixed broadband is worse by 14 per 100 people at the top of that range than the bottom. Comparing only countries with similar national income, the gap is 7.18 per 100 people.

Link before adjusting (r)-0.521p = 3.4e-10 · 127 countries
After adjusting for national income-0.448p = 1.5e-7 · likely range [-0.58, -0.30]
p, allowing for regions0.002standard error 0.086 · 7 regions
Check for luck (q)0.015across 18,622 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.

Fixed broadband · per 100 peoplelink with income +0.88 · proxy
Hours worked (PWT) · hours per yearlink with income -0.40 · moderate

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

Every country as a dot

Fixed broadband · per 100 people →Hours worked (PWT) · hours per year →048.91,3352,658Angola: 0.363 per 100 people, 2,115 hours per yearAlbania: 24.9 per 100 people, 2,152 hours per yearUnited Arab Emirates: 40.8 per 100 people, 2,514 hours per yearArgentina: 26.1 per 100 people, 1,612 hours per yearArmenia: 20.3 per 100 people, 1,976 hours per yearAustralia: 36.5 per 100 people, 1,611 hours per yearAustria: 30.1 per 100 people, 1,438 hours per yearAzerbaijan: 21.8 per 100 people, 1,791 hours per yearBelgium: 44.2 per 100 people, 1,593 hours per yearBurkina Faso: 0.851 per 100 people, 2,356 hours per yearBangladesh: 8.09 per 100 people, 2,383 hours per yearBulgaria: 37 per 100 people, 1,659 hours per yearBahrain: 17 per 100 people, 2,052 hours per yearBosnia and Herzegovina: 29.4 per 100 people, 2,122 hours per yearBelarus: 36.3 per 100 people, 1,875 hours per yearBolivia: 12.1 per 100 people, 1,968 hours per yearBrazil: 24.1 per 100 people, 1,994 hours per yearBotswana: 7.44 per 100 people, 2,258 hours per yearCanada: 42.5 per 100 people, 1,731 hours per yearSwitzerland: 47 per 100 people, 1,529 hours per yearChile: 23.7 per 100 people, 1,950 hours per yearChina: 47.2 per 100 people, 2,328 hours per yearCote d'Ivoire: 1.6 per 100 people, 2,103 hours per yearCameroon: 2.13 per 100 people, 2,181 hours per yearCongo, Dem. Rep.: 0.032 per 100 people, 1,841 hours per yearCongo, Rep.: 1.27 per 100 people, 2,534 hours per yearColombia: 17.2 per 100 people, 2,471 hours per yearCosta Rica: 23.3 per 100 people, 2,177 hours per yearCyprus: 37.6 per 100 people, 1,840 hours per yearCzechia: 38.9 per 100 people, 1,774 hours per yearGermany: 45.6 per 100 people, 1,335 hours per yearDenmark: 43.4 per 100 people, 1,380 hours per yearDominican Republic: 11.2 per 100 people, 2,072 hours per yearAlgeria: 13.3 per 100 people, 2,232 hours per yearEcuador: 17.2 per 100 people, 1,594 hours per yearEgypt, Arab Rep.: 11.7 per 100 people, 2,369 hours per yearSpain: 39.2 per 100 people, 1,638 hours per yearEstonia: 35.4 per 100 people, 1,606 hours per yearEthiopia: 0.594 per 100 people, 1,599 hours per yearFinland: 36.5 per 100 people, 1,497 hours per yearFrance: 48.9 per 100 people, 1,487 hours per yearGabon: 4.69 per 100 people, 2,174 hours per yearUnited Kingdom: 42.2 per 100 people, 1,523 hours per yearGeorgia: 30.4 per 100 people, 1,932 hours per yearGhana: 0.665 per 100 people, 1,656 hours per yearGreece: 44.7 per 100 people, 1,893 hours per yearGuatemala: 5.34 per 100 people, 2,151 hours per yearHong Kong SAR, China: 40.3 per 100 people, 2,240 hours per yearCroatia: 29.6 per 100 people, 1,974 hours per yearHungary: 37.5 per 100 people, 1,668 hours per yearIndonesia: 4.92 per 100 people, 1,958 hours per yearIndia: 3.15 per 100 people, 2,383 hours per yearIreland: 32.3 per 100 people, 1,654 hours per yearIran, Islamic Rep.: 12.1 per 100 people, 2,246 hours per yearIraq: 17.6 per 100 people, 1,583 hours per yearIceland: 37.5 per 100 people, 1,452 hours per yearIsrael: 29.2 per 100 people, 1,890 hours per yearItaly: 31.8 per 100 people, 1,701 hours per yearJamaica: 16 per 100 people, 1,963 hours per yearJordan: 7.02 per 100 people, 2,483 hours per yearJapan: 38.6 per 100 people, 1,654 hours per yearKazakhstan: 15.3 per 100 people, 1,975 hours per yearKenya: 3.04 per 100 people, 2,035 hours per yearKyrgyz Republic: 7.8 per 100 people, 1,830 hours per yearCambodia: 4.15 per 100 people, 2,389 hours per yearKorea, Rep.: 47.8 per 100 people, 1,910 hours per yearKuwait: 1.01 per 100 people, 2,318 hours per yearLebanon: 7.29 per 100 people, 2,412 hours per yearSri Lanka: 8.47 per 100 people, 2,053 hours per yearLithuania: 27.8 per 100 people, 1,640 hours per yearLuxembourg: 40.3 per 100 people, 1,452 hours per yearLatvia: 25.8 per 100 people, 1,625 hours per yearMorocco: 7.3 per 100 people, 2,174 hours per yearMoldova: 29.6 per 100 people, 1,989 hours per yearMadagascar: 0.124 per 100 people, 1,799 hours per yearMexico: 21.7 per 100 people, 1,629 hours per yearNorth Macedonia: 29.9 per 100 people, 1,949 hours per yearMali: 0.774 per 100 people, 2,243 hours per yearMalta: 44.5 per 100 people, 1,848 hours per yearMyanmar: 2.87 per 100 people, 2,197 hours per yearMozambique: 0.142 per 100 people, 1,507 hours per yearMauritius: 28 per 100 people, 1,990 hours per yearMalawi: 0.0864 per 100 people, 1,596 hours per yearMalaysia: 13.5 per 100 people, 2,308 hours per yearNamibia: 2.83 per 100 people, 2,184 hours per yearNiger: 0.111 per 100 people, 2,069 hours per yearNigeria: 0.0787 per 100 people, 2,062 hours per yearNetherlands: 43 per 100 people, 1,439 hours per yearNorway: 45.2 per 100 people, 1,412 hours per yearNew Zealand: 38 per 100 people, 1,708 hours per yearOman: 11.1 per 100 people, 2,266 hours per yearPakistan: 1.47 per 100 people, 2,471 hours per yearPeru: 11.7 per 100 people, 2,143 hours per yearPhilippines: 7.14 per 100 people, 2,096 hours per yearPoland: 25.4 per 100 people, 1,807 hours per yearPortugal: 45.2 per 100 people, 1,735 hours per yearParaguay: 12.9 per 100 people, 2,123 hours per yearQatar: 11.8 per 100 people, 2,435 hours per yearRomania: 35.8 per 100 people, 1,826 hours per yearRussian Federation: 27.1 per 100 people, 2,087 hours per yearRwanda: 0.596 per 100 people, 1,584 hours per yearSaudi Arabia: 44.1 per 100 people, 2,125 hours per yearSudan: 0.0604 per 100 people, 2,658 hours per yearSenegal: 4.04 per 100 people, 2,335 hours per yearSingapore: 27.8 per 100 people, 2,283 hours per yearSerbia: 33.4 per 100 people, 1,995 hours per yearSlovak Republic: 33.8 per 100 people, 1,621 hours per yearSlovenia: 34.2 per 100 people, 1,588 hours per yearSweden: 40.6 per 100 people, 1,432 hours per yearSyrian Arab Republic: 6.86 per 100 people, 1,621 hours per yearChad: 0 per 100 people, 1,585 hours per yearThailand: 14.9 per 100 people, 2,177 hours per yearTajikistan: 0.984 per 100 people, 2,134 hours per yearTurkmenistan: 5.22 per 100 people, 2,179 hours per yearTrinidad and Tobago: 27 per 100 people, 1,610 hours per yearTunisia: 15 per 100 people, 2,288 hours per yearTurkiye: 23.4 per 100 people, 1,747 hours per yearTanzania: 0.246 per 100 people, 2,129 hours per yearUganda: 0.208 per 100 people, 2,128 hours per yearUkraine: 21.7 per 100 people, 2,045 hours per yearUruguay: 33 per 100 people, 1,481 hours per yearUnited States: 38.9 per 100 people, 1,789 hours per yearUzbekistan: 34.7 per 100 people, 2,099 hours per yearViet Nam: 23.7 per 100 people, 2,160 hours per yearSouth Africa: 5.35 per 100 people, 2,181 hours per yearZambia: 0.79 per 100 people, 2,200 hours per yearZimbabwe: 1.94 per 100 people, 2,311 hours per yearARECHNCOGDEUFRAHKGMOZNORPAKRWASDNTCD

best-fit line line after adjusting

Four ways to measure the link

MethodrpCountries
Standard (Pearson), not adjusted-0.5213.4e-10127
By rank (Spearman), not adjusted-0.4731.9e-8127
Standard (Pearson), adjusted for national income-0.4481.5e-7127
By rank (Spearman), adjusted for national income-0.2720.002127

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 127 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: +0.073 (a minus sign means it grew).

How solid is it?

Leaving out one country at a time, r ranges from -0.495 (without CHN) to -0.414 (without QAT). 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 (-0.047).

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 & Pacific14-0.23
Europe & Central Asia47-0.24
Latin America & Caribbean15-0.57
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan18-0.39
Sub-Saharan Africa28-0.14

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 third43-0.22
Middle third42-0.26
Richest third42-0.53

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
Christians74-0.48
Muslims36-0.16

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
France16-0.26
Never a European colony17-0.08
Spain14-0.62
United Kingdom35-0.49

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
Nationalist21-0.49
No strong official ideology85-0.54

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 banned18-0.29
No parties banned93-0.53

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 = -0.448 after dropping 0 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 26years. 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 = -0.141, 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 fixed broadband moved did not tend to see their hours worked (PWT) move with it.

Across countries (adjusted)-0.448for comparison
Within countries-0.405each country vs itself
…and vs the same year elsewhere-0.141q = 0.064 · 129 countries
Year-on-year changes-0.030q = 0.223
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.
  • Much of the within-country association disappears once shared global year effects are removed, which points to a common worldwide trend rather than a country-level relationship.

2,670 country-years (one country in one year), 129 countries, 1998–2023, about 21 years each on average. Share of the variation that happens within countries over time: 6% for Fixed broadband, 41% for Hours worked (PWT). 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

0.20−0.2-100+10years Hours worked (PWT) trails Fixed broadband →lag -10: r = -0.118 (n = 2,136)lag -9: r = -0.133 (n = 2,222)lag -8: r = -0.148 (n = 2,307)lag -7: r = -0.148 (n = 2,377)lag -6: r = -0.141 (n = 2,443)lag -5: r = -0.142 (n = 2,505)lag -4: r = -0.145 (n = 2,565)lag -3: r = -0.140 (n = 2,624)lag -2: r = -0.138 (n = 2,682)lag -1: r = -0.139 (n = 2,735)lag +0: r = -0.141 (n = 2,670)lag +1: r = -0.140 (n = 2,583)lag +2: r = -0.141 (n = 2,488)lag +3: r = -0.132 (n = 2,386)lag +4: r = -0.114 (n = 2,271)lag +5: r = -0.097 (n = 2,148)lag +6: r = -0.088 (n = 2,027)lag +7: r = -0.073 (n = 1,901)lag +8: r = -0.072 (n = 1,771)lag +9: r = -0.070 (n = 1,646)lag +10: r = -0.069 (n = 1,522)

Same year (lag 0): -0.141. 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


per 100 people
hours per year		Years
France FRA48.91,4872024, 2023
Korea, Rep. KOR47.81,9102024, 2023
China CHN47.22,3282024, 2023
Switzerland CHE471,5292024, 2023
Germany DEU45.61,3352024, 2023
Portugal PRT45.21,7352024, 2023
Norway NOR45.21,4122024, 2023
Greece GRC44.71,8932024, 2023
Malta MLT44.51,8482024, 2023
Belgium BEL44.21,5932024, 2023
Saudi Arabia SAU44.12,1252024, 2023
Denmark DNK43.41,3802024, 2023
Netherlands NLD431,4392024, 2023
Canada CAN42.51,7312024, 2023
United Kingdom GBR42.21,5232024, 2023

World Bank, World Development Indicators
Feenstra, Robert C., Robert Inklaar and Marcel P. Timmer (2015), "The Next Generation of the Penn World Table", American Economic Review, 105(10), 3150-3182, www.ggdc.net/pwt. Data: Penn World Table version 11.0, Groningen Growth and Development Centre, doi:10.34894/FABVLR.

Sources

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.

Hours worked (PWT)

Average annual hours worked per person engaged (Penn World Table)

Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen · via DataverseNL · CC BY 4.0 · updated irregular (new versions every few years)

Hours actually worked in a year, averaged over everyone with a job, including the self-employed and part-timers. It measures the same thing as the OECD hours measure, and for countries in both the two mostly agree. This one is kept because it reaches much further: about 130 countries each year from 2010 to 2023, where the OECD series has 38 countries and stops in 2016. Before 2000 it covers mainly rich countries. No "better" direction is set.

How this was computed

Data used: most recent value in 2010-2025; values come from 2022–2024. 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 18,622 pairs at once, using the Benjamini–Hochberg method. Underlying data last updated V-Dem v16; V-Party v2. How the country data works · explore Fixed broadband and Hours worked (PWT)

This page shows that two measures go together. It does not show that Fixed broadband changes Hours worked (PWT), or the reverse. These figures also describe countries, not individual people. See the ecological fallacy.

More links with Fixed broadband or Hours worked (PWT)