Chapter 12 - 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.

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 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 ten of the EU-28 (Slovak Republic, 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 (33 per thousand population), higher than the EU-28 average – nine of the EU-28 countries had higher rates (France, UK, Sweden, Slovenia, Austria, 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 higher percentage of the total travel by those four modes in Scotland (85.7%) than the EU as a whole (EU-15 82.9%; EU-28: 82.0%).

Air travel

2.9 Relative to the size of its population, Scotland has more international air passengers to or from the EU-28 countries (2.38 per head of the population, not counting internal UK traffic) than the overall EU figure (EU-15: 2.44; EU-28: 2.17).

Road Fatalities

2.10 Scotland's number of road deaths per million population is well below the overall EU average (Scotland: 31; EU-15: 41; EU-28: 48). Of the EU-28 countries, only Sweden, Ireland and the UK 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-15: 73.9%; EU-28: 74.7%). 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-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
					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	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	2020		1.1	5.47	8.9	11.5	7.0	0.9	10.7	83.2	5.8	1.3	10.7	47.3	5.5	67.3	4.1	9.8	5.0	59.6	2.8	0.6	1.9	0.5	17.4	38.0	10.3	19.3	10.3	2.1	5.5	67.0	514.3	410.6	5.47	65.19	67.08
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	311.93	92.2	238.4	447.4	20.3	49.0	244.4	4,469.60	3325.7	78.0	229.0	243.8
Population density (at 1 Jan)
people per sq km	2020		calc'd	70	106	376	63	96	136	233	136	29	81	94	16	105	72	105	71	197	43	241	30	1628	466	122	112	81	23	103	111	274	115	123	70	285	275
Infrastructure and vehicles
Motorways
km	2019		2.5.1	476	1,743	1,763	790	257	1,276	13,183	1,346	161	2,098	15,585	926	11,671	1,310	1,723	995	6,966	403	165	-	-	2,790	1,676	3,065	866	2,133	623	495	3,857	77,866	68,286	476	3,742	3,857
km per '000 sq km	2019		calc'd	6.1	20.8	57.5	7.1	27.8	16.2	36.9	31.4	3.6	15.9	30.8	2.7	18.3	23.1	18.5	14.2	23.1	6.2	63.6	-	-	74.6	5.4	33.2	3.6	4.8	30.7	10.1	15.8	17.4	20.5	6.1	16.3	15.8
All roads ( @ )
'000 km	2019	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	86.8	1,900	1,450	29.5	81.5	91.6
km per '000 sq km	2019		calc'd	378	432	533	69	877	707	643	1,744	366	321	327	80	626	316	342	263	550	331	1,116	110	1,646	355	555	155	222	350	1,905	368	355	425	436	378	356	376
Railways
km	2019		2.5.3	2,758	4,968	3,602	4,030	-	9,396	39,379	2,646	1,033	2,280	15,718	5,923	27,483	2,617	7,588	2,045	16,779	1,911	288	1,860	-	3,055	18,538	2,526	10,759	10,899	1,209	3,629	16,346	216,507	153,937	2,758	15,904	16,244
km per '000 sq km	2019		calc'd	35.4	59.2	117.5	36.3	-	119.1	110.1	61.6	22.8	17.3	31.1	17.5	43.0	46.2	81.6	29.2	55.5	29.3	111.0	28.8	-	81.7	59.4	27.4	45.1	24.4	59.6	74.0	66.9	48.4	46.3	35.4	69.5	66.6
Passenger cars
million	2019		2.6.2	2.52	5.04	5.89	2.83	0.57	5.92	47.72	2.65	0.79	5.41	24.56	3.57	38.34	1.72	3.81	2.20	39.55	1.50	0.43	0.73	0.31	8.68	24.36	5.45	6.90	4.89	1.17	2.39	32.88	280.26	227.24	2.52	31.88	32.88
per 1,000 pop'n	2019		calc'd	475	566	511	407	645	554	574	455	598	504	519	647	569	425	390	442	663	536	681	381	597	499	642	530	357	473	556	439	491	545	553	475	489	490
Powered two wheelers ( $ )
thousands	2019	02 & '04	2.6.5	72	861	644	199	40	1,163	4,506	194	58	1,638	5,516	624	3,034	159	186	42	9,522	53	31	60	30	1,929	2,962	661	148	691	136	147	1,273	36,509	31,166	72	1,250	1,273
Goods vehicles
thousands	2019		2.6.4	344	514	938	452	115	724	3,495	423	131	1,374	5,249	649	7,013	194	599	367	4,368	136	47	91	51	1,084	3,883	1,513	1,090	669	116	326	4,772	40,384	32,476	344	4,625	4,772
per 1,000 pop'n	2019		calc'd	65	58	81	65	129	68	42	73	99	128	111	117	104	48	61	74	73	49	75	48	98	62	102	147	56	65	55	60	71	79	79	65	71	71
New registrations of passenger cars
thousands	2019		2.6.6	178	329	550	35	12	250	3,607	226	27	114	1,258	114	2,214	63	158	117	1,916	46	55	18	8	446	556	224	162	356	73	102	2,311	15,348	13,839	178	2,023	2,057
per 1,000 pop'n	2019		calc'd	33	37	48	5	14	23	43	39	20	11	27	21	33	16	16	24	32	17	88	10	15	26	15	22	8	34	35	19	34	30	34	33	31	31
Passenger transport ^&
Distance travelled (kilometres per person per year)
Passenger cars	2019		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	11,067	9,859	10,615	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	2019		2.3.5 * ^&	651	1,175	1,194	1,548	1,823	1,687	740	1,193	2,339	1,896	708	1,432	893	987	1,921	2,174	1,705	1,038	1,986	1,141	1,134	305	954	773	1,375	983	1,809	1,135	512	1,014	942	651	565
Tram / metro	2019		2.3.6 * ^&	0	832	0	151	0	1,042	212	69	106	0	175	0	170	135	287	62	122	0	51	64	0	0	0	126	254	264	0	0	204	177	172	0	117
Railways (excl. t/m)	2019		2.3.7 * ^&	778	1,511	966	217	0	1,019	1,209	1,072	296	117	615	892	1,524	178	793	489	937	128	754	335	0	1,120	581	492	304	1,429	275	726	1,078	961	1,070	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	13,198	12,341	10,220	9,854	11,371	13,910	14,612	13,379	14,310	9,506	15,238	15,016	7,524	9,861	15,345	16,652	12,405	16,441	9,613	6,642	11,181	7,973	12,055	7,626	14,638	15,497	7,112	13,376	12,012	13,772	10,385	10,557
Modal shares ^& (% of total pass-kms for specified modes)
Passenger cars	2019	As distance travelled	2.3.3 (^)	85.7	71.7	80.4	81.3	81.5	67.0	83.4	82.2	79.5	81.9	83.0	83.2	82.0	82.7	69.6	81.5	81.4	90.6	82.4	84.0	82.9	85.1	79.6	87.3	74.6	80.7	86.6	73.3	86.1	82.0	82.9	85.7	85.6
Bus and coach	2019		2.3.3	6.5	9.4	10.2	15.1	18.5	14.8	5.7	9.1	17.5	15.8	8.1	9.8	6.2	13.1	19.5	14.8	11.4	8.4	12.5	11.9	17.1	3.1	11.8	7.1	18.0	7.1	11.7	15.8	4.0	8.4	7.4	6.5	5.6
Railways (excl. t/m)	2019		2.3.3	7.8	12.1	8.3	2.1	-	9.0	9.3	8.2	2.2	1.0	7.0	6.1	10.6	2.4	8.0	3.3	6.3	1.0	4.8	3.5	-	11.2	7.2	4.5	4.0	10.3	1.8	10.1	8.4	8.0	8.4	7.8	7.7
Tram / metro	2019		2.3.3	0.0	6.7	1.1	1.5	-	9.2	1.6	0.5	0.8	1.3	2.0	0.8	1.2	1.8	2.9	0.4	0.8	-	0.3	0.7	-	0.6	1.4	1.1	3.3	1.9	-	0.7	1.6	1.6	1.4	0.0	1.2
Total pass km these modes	2019		calc'd	9,986	12,444	11,539	10,220	9,854	11,371	13,030	13,101	13,379	11,831	8,784	14,430	14,336	7,524	9,861	14,700	14,900	12,405	15,780	9,613	6,642	9,901	7,973	10,930	7,626	13,873	15,497	7,112	12,861	12,012	12,800	9,986	10,145
International air passenger traffic between EU countries (arrivals plus departures)
million	2017		2.4.1***	12.65	20.09	24.52	8.79	6.81	11.45	141.73	24.68	2.12	41.66	179.92	15.24	99.60	7.40	10.61	28.80	116.81	4.00	3.22	4.42	5.50	48.37	30.25	39.11	15.71	31.34	1.82	1.01	188.61	1113.56	1,003.69	12.65		164.24
per head of pop'n	2017		calc'd	2.38	2.26	2.13	1.26	7.67	1.07	1.70	4.24	1.59	3.89	3.80	2.76	1.48	1.82	1.09	5.80	1.96	1.43	5.14	2.32	10.68	2.78	0.80	3.80	0.81	3.03	0.87	0.18	2.81	2.17	2.44	2.37		2.45
Road fatalities
number	2019		2.7.1	166	416	646	628	52	618	3,046	199	52	688	1,755	211	3,244	297	602	140	3,173	186	22	132	16	586	2,909	688	1,864	221	102	270	1,808	24,571	16,843	166	1,752	1,808
per million pop'n	2019		calc'd	31	47	56	90	59	58	37	34	39	64	37	38	48	73	62	28	53	67	35	69	31	34	77	67	96	21	49	49	27	48	41	31	27	27
Freight transport: modal shares (Thousand million tonne-kms)
Road	2019		2.2.4c	11.6	26	35	21	1	39	312	15	5	28	250	29	174	12	37	12	138	53	7	15	0	68	349	31	61	43	24	34	161	1980	1,329	11.6	153.8
Rail	2019		2.2.5	1.6	21.7	7.3	3.9	-	16.2	119.5	2.5	2.2	0.5	10.7	10.3	31.8	2.9	10.6	0.1	21.3	16.2	0.2	15.0	-	7.0	54.6	2.5	13.3	22.7	5.3	8.1	16.9	423	275	1.6	16.9
Inland waterway	2019		2.2.6	0.3	1.7	8	5.9	-	0	51	-	-	-	-	0.1	8.0	0.835	2.1	-	0.1	-	0	-	-	47	0.1	-	14.0	0	-	0.9	0.2	136	115	0.3	0.2
Pipeline	2019		2.2.7	5.8	8.6	1.6	0.7	-	2.1	17.6	1.5	-	0.0	10.5	-	11.8	1.4	2.5	-	10.1	0.3	-	0.9	-	5.8	19.4	0.5	1.2	-	-	4.6	10.0	111	78	5.8	4.6
Total these modes	2019		calc'd	19.3	58.5	51.6	31.1	1	57.3	499.9	19.0	7	28.7	270.7	39	225.7	17.6	52.1	13	169.4	69.6	8	30.9	0	128.2	423.0	33.9	89.5	65	29	47.6	187.9	2,650	1,798	19.3	175.5
Freight transport: modal shares (% of total tonne-kms)
Road	2019		2.2.4c *	60.1	45.2	67.6	66.2	100.0	68.1	62.4	78.9	69.0	98.2	92.2	73.5	77.1	70.8	70.9	99.4	81.4	76.3	94.6	48.4	100.0	53.3	82.5	91.4	68.2	65.2	81.9	71.4	85.6	74.7	73.9	60.1	87.7
Rail	2019		2.2.5 *	8.4	37.2	14.1	12.6	-	28.2	23.9	13.3	31.0	1.7	4.0	26.2	14.1	16.5	20.4	0.6	12.6	23.2	2.4	48.6	-	5.5	12.9	7.3	14.9	34.8	18.1	17.1	9.0	16.0	15.3	8.4	9.6
Inland waterway	2019		2.2.6 *	1.3	2.9	15.2	18.9	-	0.1	10.2	-	-	-	-	0.3	3.6	4.7	4.1	-	0.0	-	2.9	-	-	36.7	0.0	-	15.6	0.1	-	2.0	0.1	5.1	6.4	1.3	0.1
Pipeline	2019		2.2.7 *	30.2	14.7	3.2	2.4	-	3.6	3.5	7.8	-	0.1	3.9	-	5.2	7.9	4.7	-	6.0	0.5	-	3.0	-	4.6	4.6	1.3	1.3	-	-	9.6	5.3	4.2	4.3	30.2	2.6