This was a fun project to make...Amateur Radio Operator numbers worldwide from data 2000 to 2022. This data has been collected from multiple data sources. Some records only go up to 2018, so data to 2022 has been filled in with growth trend data. The last known collection of total hams worldwide was taken by the IARU in 2000. https://web.archive.org/web/20020612083455/http:/www.iaru.org/statsum00.html Data on some countries is approx due to lack of current data. Data not available for certain countries - total is not indicative of total hams worldwide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio_operator https://www.arrl.org/news/data-on-number-of-radio-amateurs-worldwide-needs-updating For those in the US, here is the number of Amateurs licenses from 1997-2022. This data is accurate as FCC data is easily obtainable.
Interesting. The figures were going down until 2017 and then started going up again, not a lot but definitely an increase. Wasn't in 2017 the FT8 mode was made available by Joe Taylor ?
Very cool project. I'm honestly surprised to see how many techs are out there in comparison and how consistent that stayed. I personally think HF and HF portable specifically are the most fun and most enjoyable part of the hobby.
Same here but I think the expense and leaning curve do a lot to limit techs to stay there never mind just walking away completely. Many I know are just interested in VHF/UHF because of living restrictions too. Couple of neighbors I know just come up on the local machine to chat or use while hunting. Get into any detailed discussion over radios or antennas and you have lost them.
Ah, so it's an all or nothing deal? They either know it all or not? I guess educating newer hams over the air is taboo?
I'm really surprised Italy didn't make the list. Every time a band is open, I find an Italian station. Guess I either have a pipeline from VT, or the hams that are there are very active! (I should add mostly on CW) Congrats on the nicely done video! Very thought provoking.
Interesting how Japanese has have dwindled to 1/3 from their former height. Pleased to see U.S. hams increasing steadily. As the Chinese middle class emerge into suburbia, they’ll have more room for antennas, China could overtake hams in U.S.A. And Japan combined.
Interesting. I was surprised at the number of hams in Thailand. I don't know why, but I was. Equally surprising to me was how few hams there are in Australia (compared to the size of the continent).
One may wonder why the activity and band occupancy have become so low, despite increasing numbers. I have a gnawing feeling that this may be one of the underlying causes: Regarding the JA numbers, they were reduced when the Administration started to also report the actual number of persons that had a "transmitting station permit", instead of the cumulative number of all operator licences issued since 1952. 73/ Karl-Arne SM0AOM
Take a gander at their annual "apparatus" fees for amateur radio. https://www.acma.gov.au/sites/default/files/2022-02/Apparatus Licence Fee Schedule Feb 2022.pdf
I Guess It's ALL UP TO YOU THEN OM!!! There's Lots of Hammer Head SSB ops out there on 75m too BTW... It's perfectly legal to stay uninformed and uneducated... Passing an Extra exam means u passed is all. Doesn't indicate much more than that does it??
Think you can take the UK figures with a pinch of salt as a lot of them keep their old novice and intermediate callsigns , not sure why Ofcom let them do that .Maybe it makes their figures look good
