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by declaring a method/variable static, we assign it to the entire class rather than any instance in specific.

as a result, such variables/methods are loaded in memory even before a class is instantiated.

No need to create instance, but you will have a restriction like you can create only one classmember variable or classmethod in a class?

May be volatile keyword in java is somewhat equivalent to static.

volatile variable is one whose value is always written to and read from "main memory". That means that different threads can access the variable.1.

May be volatile keyword in java is somewhat equivalent to static.

volatile variable is one whose value is always written to and read from "main memory". That means that different threads can access the variable.1.

well it has different meanings in different contexts..
when used with a member in a user-defined data structure such as a class, it specifies that the member is of that type itself rather than for every specific object of that class

when uses with a variable in a function, it retains its state between the function calls

for example:

void test(int current)
{
static int i; //initially will be zero if nothing is initailised
current = current + i;
print current;
}

int main()
{
for(int i=0;i<5;i++)
test(i);
}

the output should be 0 1 3 6 10