Live ranking
Which countries have the most satellites?
As of 4 October 2026, 14:19 UTC, 99 owners in the catalogue have at least one active satellite. The United States has the most, 12,530 active satellites, 75.4 percent of all 16,629 active satellites in our count.
- 99Owners with at least one active satellite
- 75.4 percentShare of the top owner, United States
- 88.8 percentShare of the top three owners together
The largest satellite owners
The United States has the most, with 12,530 of the 16,629 active satellites in our count, 75.4 percent, as of 4 October 2026. Owners are shown as the catalogue records them, which mixes countries and organisations.
Owners with their own page
These owners have a page with their satellites by orbit, purpose and launch year, and a map of where they are.
- United States12,530 active satellites, 75.4 percent
- China1,541 active satellites, 9.3 percent
- United Kingdom697 active satellites, 4.2 percent
- CIS (former USSR)381 active satellites, 2.3 percent
- Japan134 active satellites, 0.8 percent
All owners ranked by active satellites
| Rank | Owner, as recorded | Active satellites | Share of all active (percent) | Starlink |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 12,530 | 75.4 | 11,149 |
| 2 | People's Republic of China | 1,541 | 9.3 | 0 |
| 3 | United Kingdom | 697 | 4.2 | 0 |
| 4 | Commonwealth of Independent States (former USSR) | 381 | 2.3 | 0 |
| 5 | Japan | 134 | 0.8 | 0 |
| 6 | To Be Determined | 112 | 0.7 | 0 |
| 7 | Italy | 78 | 0.5 | 0 |
| 8 | India | 77 | 0.5 | 0 |
| 9 | France | 70 | 0.4 | 0 |
| 10 | European Space Agency | 68 | 0.4 | 0 |
| 11 | Germany | 67 | 0.4 | 0 |
| 12 | Republic of Korea | 60 | 0.4 | 0 |
| 13 | Canada | 53 | 0.3 | 0 |
| 14 | Spain | 52 | 0.3 | 0 |
| 15 | Türkiye | 39 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 16 | International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT) | 36 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 17 | SES | 36 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 18 | O3b Networks | 33 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 19 | Australia | 32 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 20 | European Telecommunications Satellite Organization (EUTELSAT) | 28 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 21 | Argentina | 27 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 22 | Finland | 27 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 23 | Globalstar | 27 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 24 | Taiwan (Republic of China) | 27 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 25 | United Arab Emirates | 22 | 0.1 | 0 |
| 26 | Norway | 21 | 0.1 | 0 |
| 27 | Greece | 20 | 0.1 | 0 |
| 28 | Israel | 15 | 0.1 | 0 |
| 29 | Saudi Arabia | 15 | 0.1 | 0 |
| 30 | Brazil | 14 | 0.1 | 0 |
| 31 | International Mobile Satellite Organization (INMARSAT) | 14 | 0.1 | 0 |
| 32 | ORBCOMM | 14 | 0.1 | 0 |
| 33 | Poland | 12 | 0.1 | 0 |
| 34 | Iran | 11 | 0.1 | 0 |
| 35 | Luxembourg | 11 | 0.1 | 0 |
| 36 | Portugal | 11 | 0.1 | 0 |
| 37 | Singapore | 11 | 0.1 | 0 |
| 38 | Belgium | 10 | 0.1 | 0 |
| 39 | Arab Satellite Communications Organization | 9 | 0.1 | 0 |
| 40 | Egypt | 9 | 0.1 | 0 |
| 41 | Indonesia | 9 | 0.1 | 0 |
| 42 | European Organization for theExploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) | 8 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 43 | Switzerland | 8 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 44 | Malaysia | 7 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 45 | Pakistan | 7 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 46 | Republic of Rwanda | 7 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 47 | Thailand | 7 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 48 | Algeria | 6 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 49 | Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company (ASIASAT) | 6 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 50 | Bulgaria | 6 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 51 | Netherlands | 6 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 52 | Asia Broadcast Satellite | 5 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 53 | Denmark | 5 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 54 | International Space Station | 5 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 55 | Kazakhstan | 5 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 56 | Mexico | 5 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 57 | Azerbaijan | 4 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 58 | Belarus | 4 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 59 | Hungary | 4 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 60 | Morroco | 4 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 61 | Vietnam | 4 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 62 | Austria | 3 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 63 | Chile | 3 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 64 | Czech Republic (former Czechoslovakia) | 3 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 65 | Nigeria | 3 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 66 | China/Brazil | 2 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 67 | Ecuador | 2 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 68 | KWT | 2 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 69 | Lithuania | 2 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 70 | Philippines (Republic of the Philippines) | 2 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 71 | Slovenia | 2 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 72 | South Africa | 2 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 73 | SVK | 2 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 74 | Sweden | 2 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 75 | Venezuela | 2 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 76 | Angola | 1 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 77 | Bolivia | 1 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 78 | Democratic People's Republic of Korea | 1 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 79 | Ethiopia | 1 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 80 | France/Italy | 1 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 81 | Greece/Saudi Arabia | 1 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 82 | Iraq | 1 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 83 | JOR | 1 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 84 | Laos | 1 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 85 | Montenegro | 1 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 86 | New ICO | 1 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 87 | New Zealand | 1 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 88 | Peoples Republic of Bangladesh | 1 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 89 | Peru | 1 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 90 | RascomStar-QAF | 1 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 91 | Republic of Botswana | 1 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 92 | Republic of Croatia | 1 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 93 | Republic of Djibouti | 1 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 94 | Romania | 1 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 95 | Singapore/Taiwan | 1 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 96 | Solomon Islands | 1 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 97 | The Kingdom of Bahrain | 1 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 98 | Turkmenistan/Monaco | 1 | under 0.1 | 0 |
| 99 | Ukraine | 1 | under 0.1 | 0 |
How concentrated is the fleet?
The United States holds 75.4 percent of all active satellites in our count. The top three owners together hold 88.8 percent and the top ten 94.3 percent. 61 of the 99 owners have fewer than 10 active satellites each. Every Starlink satellite in the data, 11,149 of them, is recorded under the United States. Leaving Starlink out, the United States has 1,381 of the other 5,480 active satellites, 25.2 percent.
Orbit groups
Where the satellites of the owners with their own page are, against all active satellites, using the orbit groups defined below.
| Owner | Low (below 2,000 km) | Medium (2,000 to 35,585 km) | Geostationary belt | High elliptical (e 0.25+) | Beyond geostationary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 12,347 | 47 | 110 | 17 | 9 |
| China | 1,390 | 38 | 107 | 4 | 2 |
| United Kingdom | 687 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 0 |
| CIS (former USSR) | 303 | 34 | 30 | 11 | 3 |
| Japan | 107 | 0 | 25 | 1 | 1 |
| All active satellites | 15,816 | 186 | 567 | 44 | 16 |
How to read this table
- The owner is the catalogue's owner field, shown exactly as the catalogue records it. It mixes countries and organisations, so a satellite recorded under an organisation is counted under that organisation and not under any country.
- The fleet the catalogue records as "Commonwealth of Independent States (former USSR)" is shown under that name. We do not split it or rename it.
- "To Be Determined" is an entry in the catalogue's owner list, not a place. We show it as recorded.
- Share is the owner's active satellites as a percentage of all 16,629 active satellites in our count.
How these numbers are made
This is the method for this page and for every country page linked from it.
- Source: CelesTrak's current orbital element sets for its active list, with each object's owner, launch date, type and status from CelesTrak's satellite catalogue. The data time at the top of each page is when we last read them.
- An active satellite is a catalogue satellite with a status of Operational, Partially operational, Backup or standby, Spare or Extended mission. This is our definition, not CelesTrak's, so every share on these pages is a share of our count.
- The owner is the catalogue's owner field, shown exactly as the catalogue records it. Each satellite has one owner, so it is counted once. A satellite with no owner recorded is counted as "Not recorded" and not ranked.
- Starlink satellites are those whose catalogue name contains STARLINK.
- The orbit groups are our working definitions: eccentricity of 0.25 or more is high elliptical; otherwise mean altitude below 2,000 km is low, from 2,000 km up to 35,585 km is medium, 35,586 to 35,986 km is the geostationary belt, and anything higher is beyond it.
- Name families on the country pages are our own grouping by the run of letters at the start of each catalogue name ("DMC3" counts as DMC, "SDA_1664" as SDA). A name that is only a launch designator such as 2026-205A (an object not named yet), or that does not start with letters, has no family, and those satellites are counted separately. The catalogue uses more than one name prefix for some fleets, and we do not merge families.
- Purposes are CelesTrak's own groupings, a convenience and not a statement of a satellite's mission. "Unspecified" means the catalogue has no grouping for that satellite.
- Launch years count the satellites still active now by the year they were launched. They are not counts of launches in each year, because satellites launched earlier and since retired are not in them. "Launched in the last 30 days" means launched in the 30 days before the data time.
- The maps on the country pages show the point on the ground below each satellite at the data time, worked out from its orbital elements with the two-body orbit and main J2 drift the live globe uses for its swarm, not with SGP4. The positions are approximate, and a satellite within 1 degree of the equator is not counted as north or south of it. Positions are rounded to 0.1 degree for drawing. A map does not move after its page is built; the coastlines are the live globe's own.
- The totals are the same ones the satellite count page shows, split by owner. The pages are rebuilt when a new version of the satellite data arrives.
Frequently asked questions
Which country has the most satellites?
The United States, with 12,530 active satellites as of 4 October 2026, as the catalogue records owners.
How many countries have satellites?
99 owners in the catalogue have at least one active satellite. That is not a count of countries, because the owner list mixes countries and organisations.
Does this count every satellite a country uses?
No. It counts active satellites by the owner the catalogue records. A satellite recorded under another owner, such as an organisation, is counted under that owner.
Are the maps on the country pages live?
No. Each shows where the satellites were at the data time and is redrawn when the page is rebuilt. The live globe shows them moving.
Sources
- CelesTrak current GP data (the active list). Where the orbital element sets come from
- CelesTrak SATCAT format. Owner, launch date, status and type for each object
- CelesTrak SATCAT source codes. The owner names, one for each owner code in the catalogue
- CelesTrak SATCAT status codes. What Operational, Partially operational and the other statuses mean