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Does Anyone Still Fax in 2026?
Which countries still use fax — and why?
Which countries still use fax — and why? In 2026, Japan’s ministries process millions of documents by fax daily, Germany’s federal government still operates 1,400 fax machines, and South Korea’s National Assembly takes bomb threats by fax — because email leaves no paper original to forensically trust. These aren’t holdouts who missed the memo. They’re some of the most tech-fluent governments on earth, and each has decided fax still solves a problem nothing else does. This page is the country-by-country tour: where fax persists, and the surprisingly specific reasons it does.
Latest country reports
Fresh dispatches on where fax is still the default channel
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Germany’s Baden-Württemberg Keeps 1,400 Fax Machines During Digital Push
Germany’s Baden-Württemberg maintains 1,400 active fax machines across twelve ministries while pursuing digital transformation. Legal requirements trump modernization.
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Germany’s 1,400 Government Fax Machines Show Why Institutions Can’t Go Fully Digital Yet
Germany’s government operates 1,400 fax machines across 12 ministries. Why does Europe’s digital leader still rely on fax for justice and emergency services?
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Japan’s Fax Machines: The Last Analog Holdout That Refuses to Die
Japan eliminated floppy disks and pagers, but fax machines remain the analog technology that 400 government ministries fought to protect. The last holdout refuses to die.
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Greece’s Military Requires Fax Machines for 21st-Century Drone Technology
Greek defense officials demand fax submission for drone documents, creating a surreal contrast between cutting-edge warfare tech and 1980s communication methods.
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Stuck in the Fax Lane: Germany’s Bittersweet Digital Evolution
Germany’s journey from fax machines to digital IDs evokes both humor and an odd nostalgia for the persistence of old technology in modern life.
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USB sticks in taxis: Austria’s hasty fax ban leaves patients waiting
When Austria banned faxes in healthcare, chaos ensued with couriers carrying USBs and CDs—even by ambulance!
Where fax still rules — country by country
Six countries, six different reasons fax refuses to die. Pick one.
Japan
Japan retired the floppy disk before it retired the fax. When the Digital Agency tried to do both, ministry workflows pushed back. Hospitals, banks and city halls still send by fax — not because Japan can’t do email, but because the signed, paper-trail original is the document that legally matters. Read the ministry pushback story →
Germany
Germany’s federal ministries still operate 1,400 fax machines in 2026, even after a decade of digital-first rhetoric. The legal status of a faxed signature, GDPR risk on every alternative, and a procurement culture allergic to new vendors all keep the dial tone alive in the Bundestag basement. See the Bund’s 1,400-machine count →
South Korea
South Korea’s National Assembly takes its bomb threats by fax. It’s not nostalgia — for adversarial communications, a fax leaves a tamper-resistant paper original that email can’t. The same logic keeps fax inside Korean ministries, courts and hospitals long after the rest of the office stack went cloud-native. The Seoul Sunday bomb-thread story →
United Kingdom
The UK was supposed to be done. The NHS banned new fax purchases in 2018, ministers set a sunset, and then Northern Rail was caught faxing into 2024 anyway. Deadlines keep slipping because the receiving end — a magistrate, a referring doctor, a council legal team — hasn’t moved. Why Britain’s fax farewell keeps being deferred →
Croatia
In 2022 a Croatian minister proudly described fax as the country’s cutting-edge inter-ministry channel — and meant it. Smaller EU states often run the same calculus: fewer compliance moving parts, fewer migration projects, and a piece of paper everyone in the building already knows how to file. “Cutting-edge” in Zagreb, explained →
Australia
Australia’s hospitals still fax referrals because the alternative — pulling every clinic, pharmacy and aged-care home onto a single secure messaging standard — is the harder problem. Until the receiving end goes digital, the sender keeps a fax line plugged in next to the printer. Inside the Australian healthcare fax conundrum →
Need to send a fax to one of these countries?
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Got a fax to send to one of these countries?
The reasons Japan, Germany and Korea kept their fax lines are the same reasons your fax will land. No machine, no subscription. Just send it.
