Chapter 12 - International Comparisons

1. Introduction

1.1 This chapter compares some statistics for Scotland with the 27 EU member countries over a mixture of years. Due to the increased EU membership over the years overall comparisons with EU-14 and EU-27 countries are made.

1.2 Due to definitional variations across countries comparisons may not be exact (see Sections 3, 4 & 5), especially where noticeable difference exist between the UK figure and the UK/GB calculated on the same basis as the figure for Scotland.

1.4 In some cases, the EU countries' figures do not all relate to the same year. (See the International comparisons section of the user guide). Because of such differences, the commentary in Section 2 generally does not reference the year. General trends will tend to be similar over recent years and so the impact of this should be minimal.

Key Points

Scotland has less road and rail network by area compared to the EU average.
Scotland has both lower car use and car ownership than the EU average
The proportion of freight carried by road is lower than in the rest of the EU due to the higher proportion carried by pipeline in Scotland.

2. Main points

Population

2.1 Scotland has a low population: only nine of the EU-27 (Ireland, Croatia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Latvia, Estonia, Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta) have fewer people. Scotland also has a low population density (70 people per square kilometre) compared with the overall EU average (EU-15: 123; EU-28: 115). Only six of the EU-28 countries (Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Sweden) have a lower population density than Scotland.

Road Network

2.2 For its area, Scotland has a short Motorway network (6.1 km of Motorway per thousand square kilometres), well below the overall EU figure (EU-15: 20.5; EU-28: 17.4). Five of the EU-28 countries (Poland, Sweden, Romania, Estonia and Finland) have a lower figure than Scotland. This does not include Latvia and Malta which have no motorway.

2.3 The total length of the Scottish road network relative to the area of the country is 11 per cent below the EU-28 average when 'other roads' and unclassified roads in Scotland are excluded (Scotland: 378 km of road per thousand square kilometres; EU-15: 436; EU-28: 425).

2.4 Scotland has a short rail network for its area (35.4 km of route per thousand square kilometres) compared with the overall EU figure (EU-15: 46.3; EU-28: 48.4). Nine of the 28 EU countries (Estonia, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain and Sweden) have a lower value than Scotland. This does not include Cyprus and Malta which do not have a railway network.

Vehicles per Population

2.5 Scotland has few cars for the size of its population (468 per thousand population) compared with the EU as a whole (EU-15: 553; EU-28: 545). Nine of the EU-28 countries have lower figures than Scotland.

2.6 Scotland also has few goods vehicles relative to the size of its population (65 per thousand population) compared with the overall EU average (EU-15: 79; EU-28: 79). Of the EU-28, eleven countries have lower figures.

2.7 The number of new vehicle registrations in Scotland was relatively high (32 per thousand population), higher than the EU-27 average – four of the EU-28 countries had higher rates (Denmark, Belgium, Germany, and Luxembourg).

Distances travelled

2.8 Walking, cycling and motorcycles are excluded from the calculation of these modal shares, for consistency with the figures in the relevant table of the EU publication. That table shows just four modes (passenger cars, buses/coaches, railways and tram/metro) and gives their shares of the total for those four modes. Passenger cars account for a slightly lower percentage of the total travel by those four modes in Scotland (85.7%) than the EU as a whole (EU-14 86.7%; EU-27: 86.2%).

Air travel

2.9 Relative to the size of its population, Scotland had less international air passengers to or from the EU-27 countries (0.53 per head of the population, not counting internal UK traffic) than the overall EU figure (EU-14 0.47; EU-27: 0.69).

Road Fatalities

2.10 Scotland's number of road deaths per million population is well below the overall EU average (Scotland: 26; EU-14: 27; EU-27: 55). Of the EU-27 countries, only Malta and Sweden had a lower figures.

Freight

2.11 For freight transport, road has a low modal share in Scotland (60.1%) compared with the overall EU figure (EU-14: 73.4%; EU-27: 75.0%). The modal share of pipelines (30.2%) was higher than in any EU country. The modal shares of rail and inland waterways in Scotland are both below the overall figures for the EU-28.

Table Comparisons

Rates (per thousand population or per thousand square km) are based on the countries' areas and populations presented in EU Energy and Transport in Figures. As figures are rounded to a few decimal places, results won't be as precise as they using exact figures. Therefore figures should be regarded as broad indicators;
Country figures may not be on exactly the basis due to the availability of data. There is plenty of scope for differences in interpretation or definition (e.g. should the surface area of inland lochs and lakes be included when calculating a country's area?);
Scotland figures may differ from those elsewhere in Scottish Transport Statistics in order to provide Scottish figures on the same basis as the GB or UK figures given in the final two columns.
GB and UK figures are on the same basis as the figures for Scotland. The closer that these figures are to the UK (or GB) figures from EU Energy and Transport in Figures (columns to the left of the EU-14 and EU-27), the closer that the Scottish basis is to the EU countries.
Many of the Scotland figures are derived from GB-wide surveys conducted by the Department for Transport and UK figures may not be as readily available. As Northern Ireland may account for a small percentage of a UK figure, there is likely to be little difference between figures for GB and UK, particularly for rates.
Some of the Scotland, GB and/or UK figures appear with more significant digits than the figures for the EU countries, increasing the precision of the rates.

Notes

( # ) These are the nearest available figures for Scotland, and comparable figures for GB or UK as a whole - information on sources is given in the text. These may be on a different basis from other countries.

( + ) All roads data relates to the end of 2005, except for motorway estimate.

( @ ) The definitions of road types vary from country to country. Some countries' figures may include the lengths of some roads which do not have a hard surface.

( $ ) The notes on the sources of the statistics explain why there appears to be a large inconsistency between the EU publication's figure for the UK and the (DfT) figure for GB.

(^) UK figure is for GB only.

( * ) Calculated from the figures in that table, which gives the total number of passenger/tonne-kilometres for the country as a whole (in 100/1000 millions).

(&) National Travel Survey data is only collected for England now. Figures for Scotland and GB are for the last time they were available in 2012.

( ** ) As shown in (or as calculated from figures in) a previous edition - the 2012 edition does not provide any figures for powered two-wheelers, cycling or walking.

( *** ) Data calculated by adding together the total number of journeys across each row in Table 2.4.1

n/a or 0 In general, n/a is used where a figure is not available, and 0 is used where a figure is nil. However, n/a may be treated as if it were 0 for the purpose of some calculations.

Table 12.1 International comparisons
					EU countries from EU Energy and Transport in Figures (2017 edition)																													Scotland/ GB/ UK figures ^{( # )}
	Year of data (most countries)	Other year/issues (some countries)	EU publication table	Scottish figure (same or a similar basis) ( # )	Austria	Belgium	Bulgaria	Cyprus	Czech Republic	Germany	Denmark	Estonia	Greece (+)	Spain	Finland	France	Croatia	Hungary	Ireland	Italy	Lithuania	Luxembourg	Latvia	Malta (+)	Netherlands	Poland	Portugal	Romania	Sweden	Slovenia	Slovak Republic	EU-27	EU-14	Scotland	GB (same basis)	UK (same basis)
				SCOT	AT	BE	BG	CY	CZ	DE	DK	EE	EL	ES	FI	FR	HR	HU	IE	IT	LT	LU	LV	MT	NL	PL	PT	RO	SE	SI	SK	EU-27	EU-14	SCOT	GB	UK
General data
Population (at 1 Jan)
million	2021		1.1	5.48	8.9	11.6	6.9	0.9	10.7	83.2	5.8	1.3	10.7	47.4	5.5	67.7	4.0	9.7	5.0	59.2	2.8	0.6	1.9	0.5	17.5	37.8	10.3	19.2	10.4	2.1	5.5	343.8	447.1	5.48	65.08	66.98
Area
'000 sq km			1.1	78.0	83.9	30.7	111.0	9.3	78.9	357.6	42.9	45.3	131.7	506.0	338.4	638.5	56.6	93.0	69.9	302.1	65.3	2.6	64.6	0.3	37.4	311.9	92.2	238.4	447.4	20.3	49.0	3,081.30	4225.2	78.0	229.0	243.8
Population density (at 1 Jan)
people per sq km	2021		calc'd	70	106	378	62	97	136	233	135	29	81	94	16	106	71	104	72	196	43	231	29	1667	468	121	112	81	23	103	112	112	106	70	284	275
Infrastructure and vehicles
Motorways
km	2020		2.5.1	476	1,749	1,763	806	257	1,298	13,192	1,354	199	2,145	15,722	933	11,660	1,310	1,774	995	6,977	400	165	-	-	2,789	1,712	3,065	920	2,179	616	521	74,502	64,688	476	3,735	3,850
km per '000 sq km	2020		calc'd	6.1	20.8	57.4	7.3	27.6	16.5	36.9	31.6	4.4	16.3	31.1	2.8	18.3	23.1	19.1	14.2	23.1	6.1	63.5	-	-	74.6	5.5	33.2	3.9	4.9	30.4	10.6	24.2	15.3	6.1	16.3	15.8
All roads ( @ )
'000 km	2020	Excluding Other roads (U roads)	2.5.2	29.5	36.3	16.3	7.7	8.1	55.8	229.8	74.8	16.6	42.3	165.6	26.9	399.9	17.9	31.9	18.4	166.0	21.6	2.9	7.1	0.5	13.3	173.1	14.3	53.0	156.5	38.6	18.1	1,813	1,363	29.5	81.5	91.6
km per '000 sq km	2020	Excluding Other roads (U roads)	calc'd	378	432	532	69	872	707	643	1,745	367	321	327	80	626	316	342	264	549	331	1,113	110	1,733	355	555	155	222	350	1,903	369	588	323	378	356	376
Railways
km	2020		2.5.3	2,744	3,598	3,160	2,871	-	3,217	20,942	886	138	731	10,182	3,349	16,900	970	3,183	53	12,113	152	262	251	-	2,310	11,902	1,696	4,034	8,184	610	1,585	113,279	84,366	2,758	15,935	16,275
km per '000 sq km	2020		calc'd	35.2	42.9	102.9	25.9	-	40.8	58.6	20.7	3.0	5.6	20.1	9.9	26.5	17.1	34.2	0.8	40.1	2.3	100.8	3.9	-	61.8	38.2	18.4	16.9	18.3	30.0	32.3	36.8	20.0	35.4	69.6	66.7
Passenger cars
million	2020		2.6.2	2.52	5.09	5.89	2.87	0.58	6.05	48.25	2.72	0.81	5.49	24.72	3.63	38.35	1.75	3.92	2.23	39.72	1.57	0.43	0.74	0.31	8.79	25.11	5.57	7.27	4.94	1.17	2.44	250.41	195.83	2.52	31.70	32.70
per 1,000 pop'n	2020		calc'd	475	572	508	415	642	565	580	470	622	513	521	661	566	437	404	447	671	559	722	389	617	502	664	540	379	475	557	444	728	438	475	487	488
Powered two wheelers ( $ )
thousands	2020	02 & '04	2.6.5	73	884	719	206	40	1,680	4,662	196	61	1,638	5,628	636	3,058	159	195	45	9,631	61	32	64	32	1,993	3,069	162	162	713	140	154	36,021	29,997	73	1,274	1,297.8
Goods vehicles
thousands	2020		2.6.4	351	532	963	461	116	732	3,629	419	135	1,374	5,266	669	6,505	202	616	378	4,417	143	49	92	52	1,104	3,999	1,396	1,142	680	118	327	35,516	27,379	351	4,706	4,858
per 1,000 pop'n	2020		calc'd	66	60	83	67	129	68	44	72	104	128	111	122	96	51	63	76	75	51	81	49	104	63	106	135	59	65	56	59	103	61	66	72	73
New registrations of passenger cars
thousands	2020		2.6.6	178	249	431	27	10	203	2,918	198	19	81	851	96	1,650	36	128	88	1,382	40	45	14	5	356	429	145	126	292	40	76	9,936	8,783	178	1,318	1,340
per 1,000 pop'n	2020		calc'd	32	28	37	4	11	19	35	34	15	8	18	18	24	9	13	18	23	14	75	7	9	20	11	14	7	28	19	14	29	20	32	20	20
Passenger transport ^&
Distance travelled (kilometres per person per year)
Passenger cars	2020		2.3.4 *^&	8,557	8,926	9,379	8,305	8,031	7,622	10,869	10,767	10,638	9,819	7,286	12,106	11,749	6,225	6,859	11,974	12,134	11,239	13,039	8,073	5,508	8,476	6,438	9,540	5,692	11,197	13,413	5,251	9,669	13,857	8,557	8,684
Powered two-wheelers	2002		prev. **	55	198	100	n/a	n/a	n/a	217	144	n/a	2,013	334	171	201	n/a	n/a	93	1,188	n/a	130	n/a	n/a	55	n/a	754	n/a	111	n/a	n/a	n/a	405	55	58
Buses and coaches	2020		2.3.5 * ^&	651	929	770	725	990	876	409	781	1,172	1,242	444	1,231	550	512	1,272	1,485	969	549	1,327	723	748	140	508	382	968	871	952	686	656	826	651	565
Tram / metro	2020		2.3.6 * ^&	0	828	82	99	0	351	141	50	63	102	109	102	98	97	189	24	70	0	51	38	0	26	69	65	178	163	0	31	120	56	0	117
Railways (excl. t/m)	2020		2.3.7 * ^&	778	829	651	161	0	619	695	677	198	60	255	510	880	110	497	168	373	85	428	216	0	526	331	249	192	787	161	391	508	747	778	779
Cycling	2001		prev. **	56	136	322	n/a	n/a	n/a	291	936	n/a	76	20	251	75	n/a	n/a	184	154	n/a	23	n/a	n/a	848	n/a	29	n/a	271	n/a	n/a	n/a	186	56	67
Walking	2001		prev. **	288	419	380	n/a	n/a	n/a	372	431	n/a	389	368	386	404	n/a	n/a	368	410	n/a	457	n/a	n/a	377	n/a	342	n/a	383	n/a	n/a	n/a	382	288	286
Total these modes			calc'd	10,385	12,266	11,683	9,289	9,020	9,469	12,993	13,785	12,070	13,700	8,816	14,757	13,957	6,944	8,817	14,296	15,298	11,872	15,456	9,050	6,256	10,449	7,346	11,360	7,030	13,783	14,526	6,358	10,953	16,458	10,385	10,557
Modal shares ^& (% of total pass-kms for specified modes)
Passenger cars	2020	As distance travelled	2.3.3 (^)	85.7	73.9	84.3	88.2	87.5	77.7	88.7	87.0	86.7	86.0	88.6	86.3	86.0	87.4	77.0	86.1	85.3	94.2	86.2	88.8	86.1	89.7	86.7	92.4	79.6	82.7	91.2	80.7	86.2	86.7	85.7	85.6
Bus and coach	2020		2.3.3	6.5	9.4	8.0	8.7	12.5	10.6	3.7	6.8	10.9	12.4	6.2	9.2	5.1	9.0	15.0	12.3	10.1	5.1	10.1	8.3	13.9	2.1	7.5	4.2	14.8	8.3	7.5	11.9	7.1	6.3	6.5	5.6
Railways (excl. t/m)	2020		2.3.3	7.8	8.4	6.8	1.9	-	7.5	6.3	5.9	1.8	0.6	3.6	3.8	8.1	1.9	5.8	1.4	3.9	0.8	3.3	2.5	-	7.8	4.9	2.7	2.9	7.5	1.3	6.8	5.5	5.7	7.8	7.7
Tram / metro	2020		2.3.3	0.0	8.4	0.9	1.2	-	4.2	1.3	0.4	0.6	1.0	1.5	0.8	0.9	1.7	2.2	0.2	0.7	0.0	0.4	0.4	-	0.4	1.0	0.7	2.7	1.5	-	0.5	1.3	1.2	0.0	1.2
Total pass km these modes	2020		calc'd	9,986	11,512	10,881	9,289	9,020	9,469	12,113	12,274	12,070	11,222	8,094	13,949	13,276	6,944	8,817	13,651	13,546	11,872	14,795	9,050	6,256	9,169	7,346	10,235	7,030	13,019	14,526	6,358	10,953	15,485	9,986	10,145
International air passenger traffic between EU countries (arrivals plus departures)
million	2020		2.4.1***	2.81	5.94	6.49	2.52	1.24	2.22	34.51	5.54	0.64	13.34	42.44	3.69	31.66	1.44	2.40	4.08	30.05	0.96	1.20	1.24	1.24	12.32	7.54	11.32	4.55	6.75	0.21	0.16	235.69	209.33	2.81		40.43
per head of pop'n	2020		calc'd	0.53	0.67	0.56	0.36	1.38	0.21	0.41	0.95	0.49	1.25	0.90	0.67	0.47	0.36	0.25	0.82	0.51	0.34	2.00	0.65	2.49	0.70	0.20	1.10	0.24	0.65	0.10	0.03	0.69	0.47	0.53		0.60
Road fatalities
number	2020		2.7.1	141	344	499	463	48	518	2,719	163	59	584	1,370	223	2,538	237	460	146	2,395	175	26	139	11	515	2,491	536	1,644	204	80	247	18,834	12,262	141	1,460	1,516
per million pop'n	2020		calc'd	26	39	43	67	53	48	33	28	45	55	29	41	37	59	47	29	40	63	43	73	22	29	66	52	86	20	38	45	55	27	26	22	#REF!
Freight transport: modal shares (Thousand million tonne-kms)
Road	2020		2.2.4c	11.6	26	34	33	1	56	305	15	4	25	242	30	170	12	32	11	133	55	6	14	0	67	355	24	55	43	23	32	1,803	1,132	11.6	136.4
Rail	2020		2.2.5	1.6	20.5	6.7	4.5	-	15.3	109.2	2.5	1.7	0.6	8.9	10.1	31.6	3.3	11.6	0.1	20.8	15.9	0.2	8.0	-	6.7	51.1	2.3	12.3	22.1	4.7	6.9	377	242	1.6	[Not available]
Inland waterway	2020		2.2.6	0.3	1.6	7	6.3	-	0	46	-	-	-	-	0.1	7.0	0.903	2.0	-	0.1	-	0	-	-	45	0.1	-	13.6	0	-	0.8	132	108	0.3	0.1
Pipeline	2020		2.2.7	5.8	7.7	1.6	0.6	-	1.7	16.7	1.0	-	0.0	7.8	-	9.5	1.6	2.4	-	9.1	0.2	-	0.5	-	5.2	20.4	0.3	1.1	-	-	4.4	92	59	5.8	4.4
Total these modes	2020		calc'd	19.3	55.7	50.1	43.9	1	73.1	476.8	18.2	6	25.8	258.9	40	217.8	18.1	48.2	12	163.2	71.4	7	22.2	0	124.3	426.5	26.9	82.0	65	27	43.7	2,404	1,541	19.3	140.9
Freight transport: modal shares (% of total tonne-kms)
Road	2020		2.2.4c *	60.1	46.5	68.6	74.2	100.0	76.7	63.9	80.9	71.6	97.6	93.6	74.4	77.9	67.7	66.9	99.1	81.6	77.4	93.9	61.7	100.0	54.1	83.2	90.3	67.1	66.1	82.8	72.3	75.0	73.4	60.1	96.8
Rail	2020		2.2.5 *	8.4	36.8	13.4	10.3	-	20.9	22.9	13.8	28.4	2.3	3.4	25.3	14.5	18.2	24.1	0.9	12.7	22.3	3.0	36.0	-	5.4	12.0	8.6	15.0	33.8	17.2	15.8	15.7	15.7	8.4	[Not available]
Inland waterway	2020		2.2.6 *	1.3	2.9	14.7	14.3	-	0.0	9.7	-	-	-	-	0.3	3.2	5.0	4.1	-	0.1	-	3.1	-	-	36.3	0.0	-	16.6	0.1	-	1.9	5.5	7.0	1.3	0.1
Pipeline	2020		2.2.7 *	30.2	13.8	3.2	1.3	-	2.3	3.5	5.4	-	0.1	3.0	-	4.4	9.1	4.9	-	5.5	0.3	-	2.3	-	4.2	4.8	1.2	1.3	-	-	10.0	3.8	3.8	30.2	3.1

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