When looking at statistics bear in mind that in some countries the published licence/permit total is cumulative e.g. the UK figure is every licence ever issued since October 2006.

Some countries do not issue individual licences, on achieving a certain qualification individuals can then apply either to the regulatory agency or to the national society to get a callsign. For example in Sweden, which became licence exempt in 2004, callsigns are issued by the National Society the SSA.

Historic statistics up until mid-2010's compiled by AH0A

• Japan Station Licences 1959-2014

USA https://web.archive.org/web/20240110232043/http://ah0a.org/FCC/Licenses.html

Germany https://web.archive.org/web/20240110230126/http://ah0a.org/DL/index.html

UK https://web.archive.org/web/20240110230126/http://ah0a.org/DL/index.html

Spain https://web.archive.org/web/20240110230126/http://ah0a.org/DL/index.html

UK https://web.archive.org/web/20240110230126/http://ah0a.org/DL/index.html

IARU amateur station numbers worldwide in 2000 https://web.archive.org/web/20120107104433/http://www.iaru.org/statsum00.html

2021 ARRL article on inaccuracy of estimated totals https://www.arrl.org/news/data-on-number-of-radio-amateurs-worldwide-needs-updating

2011 August QST article 'How Many Hams?' https://webpubs.arrl.org/pubs_archive/139128

1995 February QST artivle 'How Many Hams?' https://webpubs.arrl.org/pubs_archive/91137