Which countries still use fax the most?
Fax usage isn't evenly spread — it's concentrated in specific countries and specific sectors within those countries. Rather than guess at precise numbers that go stale quickly, here is the pattern that actually matters for anyone deciding whether they'll ever need to send one.
Japan is the widely-reported outlier
Japan is consistently and widely reported — in general and business press over many years — as having one of the highest rates of fax usage in the world, including in homes and small businesses, not only large organizations. Character-based input historically made fax a more natural fit than typed text for some Japanese offices, and the habit has outlasted the original reason.
Everywhere else: it is a sector question, not a country question
In most other countries, whether fax matters has less to do with the country and more to do with which office you're dealing with. Government agencies, courts, healthcare providers, and law firms are the recurring pattern across Germany, the rest of the EU, the US, and elsewhere — see the companion guide on why fax is still used for the sector-level reasons.
Germany specifically still sees fax used by public authorities (Behörden), medical practices, and legal offices, alongside — not instead of — digital channels; which one a specific office actually accepts is worth checking per-office rather than assumed nationally.
Reach matters more than the statistics
pdftofax.com sends to fax numbers in over 230 countries — the practical question for most senders isn't "does this country use fax," it's "can I reach this one number," and that's what actually gets tested.
Send a fax