Scottish Transport Statistics No 34 2015 Edition

Chapter 12: International Comparisons

International Comparisons

1. Introduction

1.1 This chapter compares some statistics for Scotland with the 28 EU member countries over a mixture of years. Due to the increased EU membership over the years overall comparisons with EU-15 and EU-28 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. Scotland figures use 2014 mid-year estimates, compared to the 1st January 2014 population estimates given for EU countries.

1.4 In some cases, the EU countries' figures do not all relate to the same year. (See the Notes and Definitions section). 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 higher car use than the EU average but lower car ownership
  • 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-28 (Ireland, Croatia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Latvia, Estonia, Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta) have fewer people. Scotland also has a low population density (69 people per square kilometre) compared with the overall EU average (EU-15: 124; EU-28: 115). Only nine of the EU-28 countries (Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Lithuania, Latvia and Sweden) have a lower population density than Scotland.

Road Network

2.2 For its area, Scotland has a short Motorway network (5.4 km of Motorway per thousand square kilometres), well below the overall EU figure (EU-15: 20.2; EU-28: 16.7). Seven of the EU-28 countries (Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Sweden) 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 15 per cent below the EU-28 average when 'other roads' and unclassified roads in Scotland are excluded (Scotland: 369 km of road per thousand square kilometres; EU-15: 461; EU-28: 435).

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: 46.8; EU-28: 49.1). Nine of the 27 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 (436 per thousand population) compared with the EU as a whole (EU-15: 512; EU-28: 491). 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 (53 per thousand population) compared with the overall EU average (EU-15: 73; EU-28: 70). Of the EU-28, Eight countries have lower figures.

2.7 The number of new vehicle registrations in Scotland was relatively high (42 per thousand population), higher than the EU-15 and EU-28 averages – only two of the EU-28 countries had higher rates (Belgium 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 higher percentage of the total travel by those four modes in Scotland (85.7%) than the EU as a whole (EU-15 82.5%; EU-28: 81.7%).

Air travel

2.9 Relative to the size of its population, Scotland has less international air passengers to or from the EU-28 countries (1.65 per head of the population, not counting internal UK traffic) than the overall EU figure (EU-15: 1.90; EU-28: 1.65).

Road Fatalities

2.10 Scotland's number of road deaths per million population is well below the overall EU average (Scotland: 32; EU-15: 48; EU-28: 56). Of the EU-28 countries, only three countries (Netherlands, Sweden and UK) had lower figures.

Freight

2.11 For freight transport, road has a low modal share in Scotland (60.0%) compared with the overall EU figure (EU-15: 71.5%; EU-28: 72.7%). The modal share of pipelines (28.2%) 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.

3.1 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-15 and EU-28), 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.

Table 12.1 International comparisons
Scotland/ GB/ UK figures (#)
17/02/16 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 UK EU-28   EU-15  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 UK EU-28 EU-15 SCOT GB UK
General data
Population  (at 1 Jan)
million 2014 1.1 5.35 8.51 11.20 7.25 0.86 10.51 80.78 5.63 1.32 10.99 46.51 5.45 63.93 4.25 9.88 4.60 60.78 2.94 0.55 2.00 0.43 16.83 38.50 10.43 19.94 9.64 2.06 5.42 64.31 505.49 400.15 5.35 62.76  64.60
Area
'000 sq km 1.1 78.0 83.9 30.5 111.0 9.3 78.9 357.1 43.1 45.2 132.0 506.0 338.4 544.0 56.6 93.0 70.3 301.3 65.3 2.6 64.6 0.3 41.5 312.685 92.1 238.4 450.3 20.3 49.0 243.8 4,381.41 3236.9 78.0 229.0 243.8
Population density  (at 1 Jan)
people per sq km 2014 calc'd 69 101 367 65 93 133 226 131 29 83 92 16 118 75 106 66 202 45 213 31 1346 405 123 113 84 21 102 110 264 115 124 69 274 254
Infrastructure and vehicles
Motorways
km 2012 2.5.1 422 1,719 1,763 541 257 751 12,879 1,195 124 1,659 14,701 810 11,465 1,254 1,515 900 6,726 309 152  -  - 2,666 1,365 2,988 550 2,013 769 419 3,756 73,246 65,392 422  3,617  3,733
km per '000 sq km 2012 calc'd 5.4 20.5 57.8 4.9 27.8 9.5 36.1 27.7 2.7 12.6 29.1 2.4 21.1 22.2 16.3 12.8 22.3 4.7 58.8  -  - 64.2 4.4 32.4 2.3 4.5 37.9 8.5 15.4 16.7 20.2 5.4 15.8 15.3
All roads  ( @  )
'000 km 2012 Excluding Other roads (U roads)  2.5.2  28.7 35.4 16.3 7.6 4.8 55.7 230.5 74.1 16.5 41.8 165.6 26.9 399.2 17.6 31.2 17.0 180.2 21.2 2.9 7.0 2.4 13.0 173.4 14.3 52.6 98.5 6.7 18.0 175.8 1,906 1,491 28.7 165.5 175.5
km per '000 sq km 2012 calc'd 369 422 535 68 515 706 646 1,720 364 317 327 79 734 312 336 243 598 325 1,114 108 7,473 312 555 155 221 219 332 367 721 435 461 369 723 720
Railways
km 2013 2.5.3  2,763 4,894 3,582 4,032 - 9,459 33,446 2,615 1,510 2,265 15,937 5,944 30,581 2,722 7,898 1,919 17,070 1,767 275 1,859 - 3,032 18,959 2,544 10,768 10,957 1,209 3,631 16,423 215,298 151,484 2,763 15,753  16,093
km per '000 sq km 2013 calc'd 35.4 58.3 117.3 36.3 - 119.9 93.7 60.7 33.4 17.2 31.5 17.6 56.2 48.1 84.9 27.3 56.6 27.1 106.3 28.8 - 73.0 60.6 27.6 45.2 24.3 59.6 74.0 67.4 49.1 46.8 35.4 68.8 66.0
Passenger cars
million 2013 2.6.2  2.32 4.64 5.50 2.91 0.47 4.73 43.85 2.28 0.63 5.12 22.02 3.13 32.24 1.45 3.04 1.93 36.96 1.81 0.36 0.63 0.26 7.93 19.39 4.48 4.70 4.50 1.06 1.88 30.07 248.00 205.04 2.32  29.14  30.03
per 1,000 pop'n 2013 calc'd 436 546 491 402 553 450 543 405 478 466 474 574 504 341 308 420 608 615 661 317 602 471 504 430 235 466 516 347 468 491 512 436 464 465
Powered two wheelers  ( $ )
thousands 2013 02 & '04 2.6.5  66 776 445 148 40 977 6,031 198 39 1,569 4,998 554 2,894 155 157 37 8,738 68 26 44 17 1,751 2,317 485 102 606 93 74 1,244 34,581 30,351 66 1,219 1,244
Goods vehicles
thousands 2013   2.6.4 283 425 791 388 109 601 2,814 444 92 1,316 5,070 526 6,554 141 463 318 4,088 143 38 80 43 951 3,242 1,258 762 565 85 289 3,940 35,538 29,099 283 3,823 3,940
per 1,000 pop'n 2013   calc'd 53 50 71 54 127 57 35 79 70 120 109 97 103 33 47 69 67 49 69 40 102 57 84 121 38 59 41 53 61 70 73 53 61 61
New registrations of passenger cars
thousands 2014 2.6.6 222 303 483 20 8 192 3,037 189 21 71 855 106 1,796 34 67 96 1,360 15 50 12 6 388 327 143 70 304 53 72 2,476 12,557 11,658 222  2,438  2,498
per 1,000 pop'n 2014 calc'd 42 36 43 3 10 18 38 34 16 6 18 19 28 8 7 21 22 5 91 6 15 23 9 14 4 32 26 13 39 25 29 42 39 39
Passenger transport &
Distance travelled (kilometres per person per year)
Passenger cars 2013 2.3.4 * & 8,557 8,855 9,841 7,051 6,838 6,148 10,964 9,500 8,489 8,661 6,778 11,999 12,645 6,134 5,230 10,465 10,394 11,213 12,757 5,798 5,438 8,665 5,530 7,806 4,014 11,260 12,225 5,019  9,980 9,247 10,178 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  85 n-a 405 55 58
Buses and coaches 2013 2.3.5 * &  651 1,126 1,928 1,416 1,555 1,495 738 1,168 1,823 1,901 1,110 1,389 821 823 1,731 1,771 1,718 958 1,911 1,146 1,112 698 981 602 646 907 1,614 972  656 1,042 1,029 651 565
Tram / metro 2013 2.3.6 * & 0 492 111 139 n/a 911 204 51 94 150 123 97 238 125 253 33 116 n/a n/a 66 n/a 87 106 90 387 258 n/a 51  187 189 174 0 117
Railways (excl. t/m) 2013 2.3.7 * & 778 1,453 942 250 n/a 714 1,085 1,211 168 95 509 747 1,372 219 792 342 817 94 717 356 n/a 1,053 432 348 219 1,241 330 459  970 840 953 778 779
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  75 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  355 n-a 382 288 286
Total these modes calc'd 10,385 12,680 13,624 8,856 8,393 9,268 13,871 13,441 10,573 13,286 9,241 15,040 15,756 7,301 8,006 13,256 14,797 12,265 15,996 7,365 6,549 11,783 7,050 9,971 5,266 14,431 14,168 6,500  12,307 11,317 13,306 10,385 10,557
Modal shares & (% of total pass-kms for specified modes)
Passenger cars 2013 As distance travelled 2.3.3  (^) 85.7 74.2 76.8 79.6 81.5 66.3 84.4 79.6 80.3 80.1 79.6 84.3 83.9 84.0 65.3 83.0 79.7 91.4 82.9 78.7 83.0 82.5 78.4 88.2 76.2 82.4 86.3 77.2  84.6 81.7 82.5 85.7 85.6
Bus and coach 2013 2.3.3 6.5 9.4 15.0 16.0 18.5 16.1 5.7 9.8 17.2 17.6 13.0 9.8 5.4 11.3 21.6 14.0 13.2 7.8 12.4 15.6 17.0 6.6 13.9 6.8 12.3 6.6 11.4 14.9  5.6 9.2 8.3 6.5 5.6
Railways (excl. t/m) 2013 2.3.3 7.8 12.2 7.3 2.8 - 7.7 8.4 10.2 1.6 0.9 6.0 5.2 9.1 3.0 9.9 2.7 6.3 0.8 4.7 4.8 - 10.0 6.1 3.9 4.2 9.1 2.3 7.1  8.2 7.4 7.7 7.8 7.7
Tram / metro 2013 2.3.3 0.0 4.1 0.9 1.6 - 9.8 1.6 0.4 0.9 1.4 1.4 0.7 1.6 1.7 3.2 0.3 0.9 - - 0.9 - 0.8 1.5 1.0 7.4 1.9 - 0.8  1.6 1.7 1.4 0.0 1.2
Total  pass km these modes 2013 calc'd  9,986 11,718 13,019 8,660 8,450 9,197 12,905 11,941 10,093 10,895 8,652 14,258 15,022 7,279 8,030 12,294 12,285 11,280 15,105 7,281 6,448 9,916 6,925 8,872 5,044 13,856 14,222 6,489  11,872 11,184 12,202 9,986 10,145
International air passenger traffic between EU countries (arrivals plus departures)
million 2013 2.4.1*** 8.77 17.77 18.02 5.16 4.81 8.02 117.65 19.80 1.50 26.46 132.48 12.79 87.22 4.82 6.97 21.06 92.17 2.82 1.82 3.32 3.56 34.02 18.78 23.61 8.87 25.72 1.28 0.71 142.07 828.60 760.61 8.77 120.5
per head of pop'n 2013 calc'd 1.65 2.09 1.61 0.71 5.61 0.76 1.46 3.52 1.14 2.41 2.85 2.35 1.36 1.13 0.71 4.57 1.52 0.96 3.30 1.66 8.37 2.02 0.49 2.26 0.44 2.67 0.62 0.13 2.21 1.64 1.90 1.65 1.86
Road fatalities
number 2013 2.7.1 172 455 723 601 44 655 3,339 191 81 874 1,680 258 3,268 368 591 190 3,385 256 45 179 18 476 3,357 637 1,861 260 125 251 1,770 28,126 19,119 172 1,713 1,770
per million pop'n 2013 calc'd 32 53 65 83 51 62 41 34 62 80 36 47 51 87 60 41 56 87 82 89 42 28 87 61 93 27 61 46 28 56 48 32 27 28
Freight transport: modal shares (Thousand million tonne-kms)
Road 2013 2.2.4c 12.4 24.2 32.8 27.1 0.6 54.9 305.7 16.1 6.0 19.0 192.6 24.4 171.5 9.1 35.8 9.2 127.2 26.3 8.6 12.8 0.3 70.2 247.6 36.6 34.0 33.5 15.9 30.1 147.2  1,719  1,219 12.4 147.2
Rail 2013 2.2.5 2.6 19.3 7.3 3.2  - 14.0 112.6 2.4 4.7 0.2 9.3 9.5 32.0 2.1 9.7 0.1 19.0 13.3 0.2 19.5  - 6.1 50.9 2.3 12.9 21.0 3.8 8.5 22.4  407  264 2.6 22.4
Inland waterway 2013 2.2.6 0.3 2.4 10.4 5.4  - 0.0 60.1  -  -  -  - 0.1 9.2 0.8 1.9  - 0.1 0.0 0.3  -  - 48.6 0.1  - 12.2  -  - 1.0 0.2  153  131 0.3 0.2
Pipeline 2013 2.2.7 5.8 8.4 1.7 0.6  - 1.9 18.2 2.7  - 0.2 8.7  - 11.1 1.1 2.7  - 10.0 0.6  - 2.3  - 5.4 20.1 0.4 0.8  -  - 4.9 10.0  112  77 5.8 10.0
Total these modes 2013 calc'd 20.7 54.9 51.3 33.2 0.9 67.4 491.8 22.0 10.9 21.3 218.1 34.9 229.1 12.6 47.7 10.1 154.4 38.3 8.5 36.7 0.3 127.1 293.7 35.7 56.4 55.5 19.4 42.5 190.1  2,365  1,705 20.7 190.1
Freight transport: modal shares (% of total tonne-kms)
Road 2013 2.2.4c *  60.0  44.1  64.0  81.6  70.8  81.4  62.2  73.0  54.8  88.9  88.3  70.1  74.8  72.5  75.1  91.5  82.4  68.8  101.5  34.9  100.0  55.2  84.3  102.4  60.3  60.4  82.2  71.0  77.4 72.7  71.5 60.0  77.4
Rail 2013 2.2.5 *  12.6  35.1  14.2  9.8  -   20.7  22.9  11.1  43.2  1.1  4.3  27.2  14.0  16.6  20.4  1.0  12.3  34.9  2.6  53.3 0.0  4.8  17.3  6.4  22.9  37.8  19.6  20.0  11.8 17.2  15.5 12.6  11.8
Inland waterway 2013 2.2.6 *  1.3  4.3  20.2  16.2  -   0.0  12.2  -   -   -   -   0.3  4.0  6.1  4.0  -   0.1  -   3.7  -  -   38.3  0.0  -   21.7  -   -   2.4  0.1 6.5  7.7 1.3  0.1
Pipeline 2013   2.2.7 *  28.2  15.3  3.3  1.9  -   2.9  3.7  12.4  -   0.9  4.0  -   4.9  9.0  5.7  -   6.5  1.5  -   6.2  -   4.3  6.8  1.0  1.5  -   -   11.5  5.2 4.7  4.5 28.2    5.2

( # ) 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.