placestats

Fixed broadband vs. Tuberculosis incidence

Fades after adjusting for income

Across 194 countries, Fixed broadband and Tuberculosis incidence rise and fall together at r = -0.54 (on a scale from −1 to +1, where 0 means no link). Comparing only countries with similar income (GDP per person) shrinks it to -0.22, which could easily be chance (q = 0.11, allowing for the many pairs tested, and allowing for countries in the same region being alike). So the first figure mostly shows richer countries differing from poorer ones, not a link between these two things.

Comparing countries across the middle half of tuberculosis incidence, 8.47 to 139 per 100,000 people, fixed broadband is worse by 7.64 per 100 people at the top of that range than the bottom. Comparing only countries with similar national income, the gap is 2.1 per 100 people.

Link before adjusting (r)-0.536p = 7.6e-16 · 194 countries
After adjusting for national income-0.224p = 0.002 · likely range [-0.35, -0.09]
p, allowing for regions0.053standard error 0.093 · 7 regions
Check for luck (q)0.110across 12,497 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
Tuberculosis incidence · per 100,000 peoplelink with income -0.67 · high

Both of these rise and fall closely with national income, so a strong link between them before adjusting was close to certain. Read the adjusted figure, not the first one.

“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 →Tuberculosis incidence · per 100,000 people →056.40945Aruba: 17.5 per 100 people, 8.3 per 100,000 peopleAfghanistan: 0.0801 per 100 people, 203 per 100,000 peopleAngola: 0.363 per 100 people, 373 per 100,000 peopleAlbania: 24.9 per 100 people, 15 per 100,000 peopleAndorra: 52.4 per 100 people, 4.9 per 100,000 peopleUnited Arab Emirates: 40.8 per 100 people, 0.63 per 100,000 peopleArgentina: 26.1 per 100 people, 44 per 100,000 peopleArmenia: 20.3 per 100 people, 19 per 100,000 peopleAntigua and Barbuda: 10.7 per 100 people, 1.1 per 100,000 peopleAustralia: 36.5 per 100 people, 6.9 per 100,000 peopleAustria: 30.1 per 100 people, 4.9 per 100,000 peopleAzerbaijan: 21.8 per 100 people, 64 per 100,000 peopleBurundi: 0.0203 per 100 people, 83 per 100,000 peopleBelgium: 44.2 per 100 people, 2.7 per 100,000 peopleBenin: 0.277 per 100 people, 40 per 100,000 peopleBurkina Faso: 0.851 per 100 people, 57 per 100,000 peopleBangladesh: 8.09 per 100 people, 221 per 100,000 peopleBulgaria: 37 per 100 people, 12 per 100,000 peopleBahrain: 17 per 100 people, 12 per 100,000 peopleBahamas, The: 25.3 per 100 people, 18 per 100,000 peopleBosnia and Herzegovina: 29.4 per 100 people, 21 per 100,000 peopleBelarus: 36.3 per 100 people, 17 per 100,000 peopleBelize: 9.75 per 100 people, 34 per 100,000 peopleBermuda: 51.3 per 100 people, 3.1 per 100,000 peopleBolivia: 12.1 per 100 people, 114 per 100,000 peopleBrazil: 24.1 per 100 people, 49 per 100,000 peopleBarbados: 37.5 per 100 people, 1 per 100,000 peopleBrunei Darussalam: 21.2 per 100 people, 65 per 100,000 peopleBhutan: 2.92 per 100 people, 191 per 100,000 peopleBotswana: 7.44 per 100 people, 143 per 100,000 peopleCentral African Republic: 0.0161 per 100 people, 419 per 100,000 peopleCanada: 42.5 per 100 people, 6.2 per 100,000 peopleSwitzerland: 47 per 100 people, 5.4 per 100,000 peopleChile: 23.7 per 100 people, 19 per 100,000 peopleChina: 47.2 per 100 people, 49 per 100,000 peopleCote d'Ivoire: 1.6 per 100 people, 99 per 100,000 peopleCameroon: 2.13 per 100 people, 132 per 100,000 peopleCongo, Dem. Rep.: 0.032 per 100 people, 377 per 100,000 peopleCongo, Rep.: 1.27 per 100 people, 302 per 100,000 peopleColombia: 17.2 per 100 people, 49 per 100,000 peopleComoros: 0.388 per 100 people, 22 per 100,000 peopleCabo Verde: 8.31 per 100 people, 47 per 100,000 peopleCosta Rica: 23.3 per 100 people, 9.3 per 100,000 peopleCuracao: 31.5 per 100 people, 2.8 per 100,000 peopleCayman Islands: 56.4 per 100 people, 4.9 per 100,000 peopleCyprus: 37.6 per 100 people, 5.5 per 100,000 peopleCzechia: 38.9 per 100 people, 4.9 per 100,000 peopleGermany: 45.6 per 100 people, 5.4 per 100,000 peopleDjibouti: 1.47 per 100 people, 495 per 100,000 peopleDominica: 20.9 per 100 people, 4.5 per 100,000 peopleDenmark: 43.4 per 100 people, 3.2 per 100,000 peopleDominican Republic: 11.2 per 100 people, 51 per 100,000 peopleAlgeria: 13.3 per 100 people, 54 per 100,000 peopleEcuador: 17.2 per 100 people, 66 per 100,000 peopleEgypt, Arab Rep.: 11.7 per 100 people, 10 per 100,000 peopleSpain: 39.2 per 100 people, 7.9 per 100,000 peopleEstonia: 35.4 per 100 people, 8.2 per 100,000 peopleEthiopia: 0.594 per 100 people, 141 per 100,000 peopleFinland: 36.5 per 100 people, 3.7 per 100,000 peopleFiji: 1.8 per 100 people, 104 per 100,000 peopleFrance: 48.9 per 100 people, 7.8 per 100,000 peopleMicronesia, Fed. Sts.: 5.82 per 100 people, 264 per 100,000 peopleGabon: 4.69 per 100 people, 371 per 100,000 peopleUnited Kingdom: 42.2 per 100 people, 9.7 per 100,000 peopleGeorgia: 30.4 per 100 people, 45 per 100,000 peopleGhana: 0.665 per 100 people, 126 per 100,000 peopleGuinea: 0.00628 per 100 people, 178 per 100,000 peopleGambia, The: 0.519 per 100 people, 138 per 100,000 peopleGuinea-Bissau: 0.386 per 100 people, 176 per 100,000 peopleEquatorial Guinea: 0.101 per 100 people, 199 per 100,000 peopleGreece: 44.7 per 100 people, 3.6 per 100,000 peopleGrenada: 29.8 per 100 people, 1.7 per 100,000 peopleGreenland: 32 per 100 people, 139 per 100,000 peopleGuatemala: 5.34 per 100 people, 28 per 100,000 peopleGuyana: 12.9 per 100 people, 67 per 100,000 peopleHong Kong SAR, China: 40.3 per 100 people, 66 per 100,000 peopleHonduras: 4.58 per 100 people, 38 per 100,000 peopleCroatia: 29.6 per 100 people, 6.6 per 100,000 peopleHaiti: 0.307 per 100 people, 175 per 100,000 peopleHungary: 37.5 per 100 people, 5.6 per 100,000 peopleIndonesia: 4.92 per 100 people, 382 per 100,000 peopleIndia: 3.15 per 100 people, 187 per 100,000 peopleIreland: 32.3 per 100 people, 6.2 per 100,000 peopleIran, Islamic Rep.: 12.1 per 100 people, 10 per 100,000 peopleIraq: 17.6 per 100 people, 21 per 100,000 peopleIceland: 37.5 per 100 people, 3 per 100,000 peopleIsrael: 29.2 per 100 people, 2.4 per 100,000 peopleItaly: 31.8 per 100 people, 5 per 100,000 peopleJamaica: 16 per 100 people, 2.3 per 100,000 peopleJordan: 7.02 per 100 people, 3.5 per 100,000 peopleJapan: 38.6 per 100 people, 9.8 per 100,000 peopleKazakhstan: 15.3 per 100 people, 45 per 100,000 peopleKenya: 3.04 per 100 people, 207 per 100,000 peopleKyrgyz Republic: 7.8 per 100 people, 128 per 100,000 peopleCambodia: 4.15 per 100 people, 272 per 100,000 peopleKiribati: 0.0349 per 100 people, 945 per 100,000 peopleSt. Kitts and Nevis: 46.7 per 100 people, 1.1 per 100,000 peopleKorea, Rep.: 47.8 per 100 people, 35 per 100,000 peopleKuwait: 1.01 per 100 people, 10 per 100,000 peopleLao PDR: 2.72 per 100 people, 127 per 100,000 peopleLebanon: 7.29 per 100 people, 13 per 100,000 peopleLiberia: 0.275 per 100 people, 207 per 100,000 peopleLibya: 4.52 per 100 people, 63 per 100,000 peopleSt. Lucia: 13.6 per 100 people, 0.56 per 100,000 peopleSri Lanka: 8.47 per 100 people, 59 per 100,000 peopleLesotho: 0.379 per 100 people, 548 per 100,000 peopleLithuania: 27.8 per 100 people, 31 per 100,000 peopleLuxembourg: 40.3 per 100 people, 7.5 per 100,000 peopleLatvia: 25.8 per 100 people, 21 per 100,000 peopleMacao SAR, China: 29.9 per 100 people, 59 per 100,000 peopleMorocco: 7.3 per 100 people, 98 per 100,000 peopleMoldova: 29.6 per 100 people, 64 per 100,000 peopleMadagascar: 0.124 per 100 people, 224 per 100,000 peopleMaldives: 19.6 per 100 people, 40 per 100,000 peopleMexico: 21.7 per 100 people, 28 per 100,000 peopleMarshall Islands: 2.35 per 100 people, 411 per 100,000 peopleNorth Macedonia: 29.9 per 100 people, 11 per 100,000 peopleMali: 0.774 per 100 people, 51 per 100,000 peopleMalta: 44.5 per 100 people, 15 per 100,000 peopleMyanmar: 2.87 per 100 people, 482 per 100,000 peopleMontenegro: 32.3 per 100 people, 16 per 100,000 peopleMongolia: 15.8 per 100 people, 446 per 100,000 peopleMozambique: 0.142 per 100 people, 361 per 100,000 peopleMauritania: 0.947 per 100 people, 65 per 100,000 peopleMauritius: 28 per 100 people, 13 per 100,000 peopleMalawi: 0.0864 per 100 people, 113 per 100,000 peopleMalaysia: 13.5 per 100 people, 96 per 100,000 peopleNamibia: 2.83 per 100 people, 422 per 100,000 peopleNiger: 0.111 per 100 people, 86 per 100,000 peopleNigeria: 0.0787 per 100 people, 219 per 100,000 peopleNicaragua: 5.78 per 100 people, 43 per 100,000 peopleNetherlands: 43 per 100 people, 4.7 per 100,000 peopleNorway: 45.2 per 100 people, 3.3 per 100,000 peopleNepal: 10.1 per 100 people, 227 per 100,000 peopleNaoero: 9.96 per 100 people, 161 per 100,000 peopleNew Zealand: 38 per 100 people, 7.9 per 100,000 peopleOman: 11.1 per 100 people, 11 per 100,000 peoplePakistan: 1.47 per 100 people, 266 per 100,000 peoplePanama: 18.1 per 100 people, 63 per 100,000 peoplePeru: 11.7 per 100 people, 139 per 100,000 peoplePhilippines: 7.14 per 100 people, 625 per 100,000 peoplePalau: 7.33 per 100 people, 28 per 100,000 peoplePapua New Guinea: 0.233 per 100 people, 664 per 100,000 peoplePoland: 25.4 per 100 people, 11 per 100,000 peoplePuerto Rico (US): 28 per 100 people, 0.55 per 100,000 peoplePortugal: 45.2 per 100 people, 15 per 100,000 peopleParaguay: 12.9 per 100 people, 81 per 100,000 peopleWest Bank and Gaza: 8.16 per 100 people, 0.29 per 100,000 peopleQatar: 11.8 per 100 people, 37 per 100,000 peopleRomania: 35.8 per 100 people, 60 per 100,000 peopleRussian Federation: 27.1 per 100 people, 34 per 100,000 peopleRwanda: 0.596 per 100 people, 62 per 100,000 peopleSaudi Arabia: 44.1 per 100 people, 8.4 per 100,000 peopleSudan: 0.0604 per 100 people, 47 per 100,000 peopleSenegal: 4.04 per 100 people, 132 per 100,000 peopleSingapore: 27.8 per 100 people, 43 per 100,000 peopleSolomon Islands: 0.107 per 100 people, 123 per 100,000 peopleSierra Leone: 0.00227 per 100 people, 372 per 100,000 peopleEl Salvador: 12.5 per 100 people, 116 per 100,000 peopleSan Marino: 35.8 per 100 people, 0 per 100,000 peopleSomalia, Fed. Rep.: 0.723 per 100 people, 151 per 100,000 peopleSerbia: 33.4 per 100 people, 8.7 per 100,000 peopleSao Tome and Principe: 2.99 per 100 people, 87 per 100,000 peopleSuriname: 18.8 per 100 people, 34 per 100,000 peopleSlovak Republic: 33.8 per 100 people, 3.3 per 100,000 peopleSlovenia: 34.2 per 100 people, 2.6 per 100,000 peopleSweden: 40.6 per 100 people, 3.3 per 100,000 peopleEswatini: 2.51 per 100 people, 319 per 100,000 peopleSeychelles: 31.6 per 100 people, 17 per 100,000 peopleSyrian Arab Republic: 6.86 per 100 people, 23 per 100,000 peopleChad: 0 per 100 people, 118 per 100,000 peopleTogo: 1.42 per 100 people, 48 per 100,000 peopleThailand: 14.9 per 100 people, 146 per 100,000 peopleTajikistan: 0.984 per 100 people, 75 per 100,000 peopleTurkmenistan: 5.22 per 100 people, 40 per 100,000 peopleTimor-Leste: 0.006 per 100 people, 496 per 100,000 peopleTonga: 8.17 per 100 people, 1.9 per 100,000 peopleTrinidad and Tobago: 27 per 100 people, 27 per 100,000 peopleTunisia: 15 per 100 people, 39 per 100,000 peopleTurkiye: 23.4 per 100 people, 13 per 100,000 peopleTuvalu: 4.52 per 100 people, 223 per 100,000 peopleTanzania: 0.246 per 100 people, 172 per 100,000 peopleUganda: 0.208 per 100 people, 197 per 100,000 peopleUkraine: 21.7 per 100 people, 86 per 100,000 peopleUruguay: 33 per 100 people, 47 per 100,000 peopleUnited States: 38.9 per 100 people, 3.2 per 100,000 peopleUzbekistan: 34.7 per 100 people, 51 per 100,000 peopleSt. Vincent and the Grenadines: 29.5 per 100 people, 4.6 per 100,000 peopleViet Nam: 23.7 per 100 people, 182 per 100,000 peopleVanuatu: 1.16 per 100 people, 44 per 100,000 peopleSamoa: 0.878 per 100 people, 5.5 per 100,000 peopleSouth Africa: 5.35 per 100 people, 389 per 100,000 peopleZambia: 0.79 per 100 people, 272 per 100,000 peopleZimbabwe: 1.94 per 100 people, 203 per 100,000 peopleANDBMUCOMCYMKIRKWTPHLPNGWSM

best-fit line line after adjusting

Four ways to measure the link

MethodrpCountries
Standard (Pearson), not adjusted-0.5367.6e-16194
By rank (Spearman), not adjusted-0.7193.5e-32194
Standard (Pearson), adjusted for national income-0.2240.002194
By rank (Spearman), adjusted for national income-0.3701.2e-7194

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 194 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: +0.313 (a minus sign means it grew).

How solid is it?

Leaving out one country at a time, r ranges from -0.247 (without KIR) to -0.208 (without GAB). 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: KIR (-0.023).

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 & Pacific31-0.13
Europe & Central Asia51-0.30
Latin America & Caribbean35-0.30
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan22-0.17
Sub-Saharan Africa46-0.31

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 third65-0.24
Middle third64-0.29
Richest third65-0.40

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
Christians111-0.24
Muslims49-0.26

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
France25-0.17
Never a European colony21-0.06
Spain20-0.16
United Kingdom63-0.25

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 = -0.261 after dropping 18 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 25years. So a link here can’t come from anything about a country that stays the same, such as its history, geography, institutions or culture.

The link shows up within countries over time (r = +0.253) but mostly disappears in year-to-year changes (r = +0.045). That points to slow trends particular to each country, not the two measures moving together from year to year.

Across countries (adjusted)-0.224for comparison
Within countries-0.117each country vs itself
…and vs the same year elsewhere+0.253q = 2.0e-5 · 202 countries
Year-on-year changes+0.045q = 0.114
Read with care.
  • The association is much weaker in year-on-year changes than in levels, which points to shared country-specific trends.

4,232 country-years (one country in one year), 202 countries, 2000–2024, about 21 years each on average. Share of the variation that happens within countries over time: 16% for Fixed broadband, 34% for Tuberculosis incidence. 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

0.30−0.3-100+10years Tuberculosis incidence trails Fixed broadband →lag -10: r = 0.120 (n = 2,812)lag -9: r = 0.135 (n = 3,006)lag -8: r = 0.150 (n = 3,194)lag -7: r = 0.163 (n = 3,379)lag -6: r = 0.181 (n = 3,548)lag -5: r = 0.195 (n = 3,717)lag -4: r = 0.200 (n = 3,864)lag -3: r = 0.219 (n = 3,993)lag -2: r = 0.232 (n = 4,103)lag -1: r = 0.242 (n = 4,185)lag +0: r = 0.253 (n = 4,232)lag +1: r = 0.253 (n = 4,097)lag +2: r = 0.251 (n = 3,939)lag +3: r = 0.251 (n = 3,738)lag +4: r = 0.248 (n = 3,538)lag +5: r = 0.244 (n = 3,341)lag +6: r = 0.249 (n = 3,142)lag +7: r = 0.239 (n = 2,963)lag +8: r = 0.236 (n = 2,761)lag +9: r = 0.226 (n = 2,558)lag +10: r = 0.215 (n = 2,361)

Same year (lag 0): +0.253. 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
per 100,000 people		Years
Cayman Islands CYM56.44.92022, 2024
Andorra AND52.44.92024
Bermuda BMU51.33.12024
France FRA48.97.82024
Korea, Rep. KOR47.8352024
China CHN47.2492024
Switzerland CHE475.42024
St. Kitts and Nevis KNA46.71.12022, 2024
Germany DEU45.65.42024
Portugal PRT45.2152024
Norway NOR45.23.32024
Greece GRC44.73.62024
Malta MLT44.5152024
Belgium BEL44.22.72024
Saudi Arabia SAU44.18.42024

World Bank, World Development Indicators
World Bank, World Development Indicators

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.

Tuberculosis incidence

Incidence of tuberculosis (per 100,000 people)

World Health Organization · CC BY 4.0 · updated quarterly

How this was computed

Data used: most recent value in 2010-2025; values come from 2021–2024. 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 12,497 pairs at once, using the Benjamini–Hochberg method. Underlying data last updated DYB 2024. How the country data works · explore Fixed broadband and Tuberculosis incidence

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

More links with Fixed broadband or Tuberculosis incidence