The Scottish Government

« Previous | Contents | Next »

Listen

INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS

1. Introduction

1.1 This chapter compares some statistics for Scotland with those for the 25 countries which were members of the EU with effect from May 2004, and with the overall EU figure where appropriate. The figures relate to a mixture of years. Some are for years in which there were only 15 EU member states. Therefore, wherever possible, overall EU figures are given for both " EU-15" and " EU-25". Sometimes, statistics are not available for all 25 countries (for example, some figures are available only for the 15 countries which were members prior to May 2004); there are also cases where the EU publication provides overall EU modal shares based on "per person" figures only for " EU-25" and it would not be a simple matter to calculate the corresponding overall " EU-15" figures.

1.2 Section 2 sets out the main points from the comparisons. Section 3 covers the sources of the figures for the EU countries, and some points on the way in which the comparisons are presented in the table. Section 4 describes the sources of the figures for Scotland that appear in the table, and the accompanying figures for GB and the UK that are on the same basis as the figures for Scotland.

1.3 Some of these comparisons may not be exact, due to (e.g.) differences in definitions (see Sections 3 and 4). Particular care should be taken in cases where there is a noticeable difference between (a) the figure for the UK which appears among the figures for EU countries and (b) the figure for GB, or the UK, which is on the same basis as the figure for Scotland.

1.4 The table shows the years to which the figures for the EU countries relate. In some cases, the EU countries' figures do not all relate to the same year. Section 4 sets out the years to which the figures for Scotland and GB/ UK relate, and states whether they are the same as the years to which the EU figures relate. Because of such differences, the commentary in Section 2 generally does not mention the year(s) to which each set of figures relates. Please note that differences in years (between the EU countries, or between Scotland [and GB/ UK] and the EU countries) should not affect the comparisons much, because most transport statistics tend to change slowly. In general, the gaps between the figures for Scotland and the EU, when expressed (e.g.) per head of population, are such that a difference of a year or two should not affect greatly the conclusions that one would draw. For example, if the "per head" figure for Scotland for one year is much higher than the overall "per head" figure for the EU for another year, one would expect that any comparison using data for the same year would also show the figure for Scotland as being much higher than the overall EU figure.

1.5 The structure of the tables is the same as in the previous edition: the topics covered, and the countries shown, are the same as in the previous edition. However, there may have been changes to the underlying basis of some of the figures - if there were any alterations to the method of compiling the statistics in the EU publication which is the source of most of the figures (see paragraph 3.1).

2. Main points

2.1 Scotland has a low population: only eight of the EU-25 (Cyprus, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta and Slovenia) have fewer people. Scotland also has a low population density (65 people per square kilometre) compared with the overall EU average ( EU-15: 120; EU-25: 116). Only six of the EU-25 countries (Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden) have a lower population density than Scotland.

2.2 For its area, Scotland has a short Motorway network (5.0 km of Motorway per thousand square kilometres), well below the overall EU figure ( EU-15: 17.2; EU-25: 14.8). Seven of the EU-25 countries (Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Malta, Poland and Sweden) have a lower figure than Scotland.

2.3 The total length of the Scottish road network is also short, relative to the area of the country (Scotland: 728 km of road per thousand square kilometres; EU-15: 1,200; EU-25: 1,206). Of the EU-25, only four countries (Finland, Slovak Republic, Spain and Sweden) have lower figures than Scotland.

2.4 Scotland has a short rail network for its area (35.0 km of route per thousand square kilometres) compared with the overall EU figure ( EU-15: 46.4; EU-25: 49.8). Ten of the 25 EU countries have a lower value than Scotland.

2.5 Scotland has few cars for the size of its population (420 per thousand population) compared with the EU as a whole ( EU-15: 503; EU-25: 476). Ten of the EU-25 countries have lower figures than Scotland. However, relative to the population, the number of new registrations of cars in Scotland in 2005 was above the overall EU level: Scotland had 40 new registrations per thousand population; the EU-15 had 36; and the EU-25 figure was 32. In 2005, only three countries (Belgium Ireland and Luxembourg) had a higher figure than Scotland. (A different set of countries might have had higher figures if the comparison had used figures for another year, because the numbers of new registrations of cars may vary from year to year, depending upon factors such as the state of a country's economy: for example, four of the EU-15 countries had higher figures than Scotland in 2001.)

2.6 Scotland also has few goods vehicles relative to the size of its population (47 per thousand population) compared with the overall EU average ( EU-15: 72; EU-25: 69). Of the EU-25, only six countries (Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia) have lower figures.

2.7 The table's figures for the distance travelled per head of population in Scotland are on a different basis from those for the EU countries (see section 4.10). However, the modal shares should be broadly comparable. 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 (84.1%) than the EU as a whole ( EU-25: 82.8%); the EU publication does not provide any overall percentages for EU-15 with only seven countries (France, Germany, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Slovenia and GB) having higher figures than Scotland. The modal share of buses and coaches is about the same in Scotland (9.5%) as in the EU as a whole ( EU-25: 9.3%). For rail, the modal share in Scotland (6.4%) is also similar to the overall EU figure ( EU-25: 6.5%); for tram/metro it is lower.

2.8 Relative to the size of its population, Scotland has slightly more international air passengers to or from the EU-25 countries (1.44 per head of the population, not counting internal UK traffic) than the overall EU figure ( EU-15: 1.20; EU-25: 1.07).

2.9 Scotland's number of road deaths per million population is well below the overall EU average (Scotland: 56; EU-15: 80; EU-25: 94). Of the EU-25 countries, only four countries (Malta, Netherlands, Sweden and UK) had lower figures in 2005. (A different set of countries might have had lower figures if the comparison had used figures for another year, because the numbers of road deaths may fluctuate from year to year: for example, only one of the EU-15 countries had a lower figure than Scotland in 2000.)

2.10 For freight transport, road has a low modal share in Scotland (57.9%) compared with the overall EU figure ( EU-15: 74.8%; EU-25: 72.6%) due to the high modal share of pipelines (25%, 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-25.

2.11 Estimates of road traffic volumes are not available for several countries. Scotland has slightly more traffic relative to its population (8,251 vehicle-kilometres per head of population) than the overall EU-15 average (7,641), but slightly less relative to the length of its road network (741 vehicle-kilometres per kilometre of road) than the overall EU-15 figure (762).

3. The source of the statistics for EU countries, and some points on the table

3.1 Almost all the statistics for EU countries which appear in this chapter were taken from the "2006" edition of " EU Energy and Transport in Figures", which is a publication produced annually by the EC Directorate General for Energy and Transport with the assistance of Eurostat. It can be found on the EU Web site at the following address: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/energy_transport/figures/pocketbook/2006_en.htm

A paper copy (in a "pocketbook" format) can be obtained (free of charge) from the EU, by sending an e-mail to: tif@cec.eu.int

The figures it contains are mainly for 2004 or 2005, but some relate to other years.

3.2 " EU Energy and Transport in Figures" contains many transport statistics for EU countries, but far fewer figures for non- EU countries, so this chapter does not include any comparisons with any countries which are outwith the EU.

3.3 The EU publication includes some transport statistics for EU countries (e.g. employment in various modes of transport, and freight tonne-kilometres for various modes of transport) which do not appear in this chapter for a range of reasons. For example, (a) they may not come within the "scope" of "Scottish Transport Statistics", or (b) a topic was thought unlikely to be of great interest to readers of "Scottish Transport Statistics", or (c) there was no readily-available comparable figure for Scotland.

3.4 A number of points should be noted about the way in which the table provides the comparisons:

• the EU countries are listed in the order in which they appear in " EU Energy and Transport in Figures" - the result may be thought unusual by British readers (most of the countries appear in alphabetical order of the English versions of their names, but some appear in places which may appear strange to British readers - e.g. Cyprus appears between Italy and Latvia);
• in many cases, the table provides figures (e.g.) per thousand population or per thousand square kilometres, as these are often a better way to compare countries of greatly differing sizes. Most of these were calculated using the countries' areas and populations as they appeared in " EU Energy and Transport in Figures" - sometimes with only a few digits. As a result, the results will not be as precise as they would have been had figures with a greater number of significant digits been available. So, the "per …" figures for some countries should be regarded as broad indicators rather than as precise measures;
• in general, the table's figures for Scotland are on broadly the same basis as those for the EU countries. The Scottish figures may not be on exactly the basis used for the EU countries' figures (e.g.) because (a) data on that basis may not be available for Scotland, or (b) the EU publication does not define precisely the basis of its figures. In any case, there may be differences between the EU countries in the basis of some of their figures. 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?);
• the table's figures for Scotland may differ from those elsewhere in "Scottish Transport Statistics", because the aim is to give figures for Scotland which are on the same basis as the GB or UK figures given in the final two columns.
• the final two columns provide figures for GB as a whole, or for the UK as a whole, which 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" (which appear in the columns to the left of the ones with figures for the EU-15 and EU-25 as a whole), the closer that the basis of the figures for Scotland may be to the basis used for the figures for the EU countries.
• in most cases, the final two columns provide only figures for GB. This is because many of the figures for Scotland come from GB-wide surveys conducted by the Department for Transport. DfT's publications (e.g. "Transport Statistics Great Britain") provide many more figures for GB than for the UK, and equivalent figures for the UK as a whole may not be as readily available. As Northern Ireland accounts for, generally, only a small percentage of a UK figure, there would usually be little difference between figures for GB and for the UK as a whole, particularly for the "per…" figures, which are often the preferred means of comparing different countries.
• some of the figures for Scotland, GB and/or UK appear with more significant digits than the figures for the EU countries, in order to calculate more precisely the "per …" figures.

3.5 As the EU publication does not provide any figures for the volume of road traffic, they come from "Transport Statistics Great Britain" (e.g. Table 10.4 of the 2006 edition). Those figures were provided by the International Road Federation, and show separately "cars and taxis", "goods vehicles", "motor cycles etc" and "buses and coaches". As " TSGB" does not include a total for all these types of traffic, one has been calculated simply by adding up the latest figures which are available for each of them (in cases where no figures are available for a "smaller" types, its value is treated as being zero). In the case of a country with no figure for "cars and taxis" for the most recent year in the latest " TSGB", the estimated total volume of traffic remains as shown in the previous edition of "Scottish Transport Statistics" - so the figures for that country will relate to an earlier year than those of other countries.

4. The sources of the statistics for Scotland, and for GB and UK on the same basis

4.1 This section lists the sources of the table's figures for Scotland, and of its figures for GB or the UK that are on the same basis as the figures for Scotland.

4.2 In general, notes on and definitions of the figures for Scotland (and, by implication, the figures on the same basis for the UK or GB as a whole) appear in the relevant chapters. Therefore, this section covers only matters which are not dealt with there.

4.3 Population, area and population density: The population figures for Scotland, for GB and for the UK are for mid-2005 ( NB: the EU publication's figures are for "1 January 2006"). They were taken from, or calculated from, figures in an Office for National Statistics release (published on 24 August 2006), available on the ONS website at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=6.

The figures for areas relate to 2004 (no year is specified for the EU publication's figures), and were taken from Table 1.1 of the 2006 edition of the "Annual Abstract of Statistics". The population densities were then calculated by the Scottish Government.

4.4 Motorways: the figures for Scotland and for GB are for 2004 (the same year as most of the EU figures). They were taken from Table 7.9 of "Transport Statistics Great Britain 2005 edition" (" TSGB 2005"). The DfT's figure for Scotland was used in this table. It differs slightly from the figure for the length of motorways in Scotland (excluding slip roads) in Table 5.1 of this publication ( "Scottish Transport Statistics").

4.5 All roads: the figures for Scotland and for GB are for 2004 (the same year as most of the EU figures). They were taken from Table 7.9 of " TSGB 2005". The DfT's figure for Scotland was used in this table. It differs from the figure for the length of roads in Scotland (including slip roads) in Table 5.1 of this publication, due to DfT using a Geographical Information System ( GIS) and Ordnance Survey data to produce estimates of the lengths of roads across Great Britain, whereas (as explained in Chapter 5) most of the figures in Table 5.1 are produced from annual returns made by local authorities. Some time after publishing its GIS-based estimates for 2003, DfT found that they were wrongly counting some private roads in Scotland (mainly those for which the Forestry Commission is responsible) as public roads, and also used data supplied by some local authorities to improve its estimates of the length of the minor road network. DfT subsequently produced better estimates for 2004, which are lower than its estimate for 2003 by about 2,800 km for Scotland (and about 4,600 km for GB as a whole) but are still greater than the figures given in table 5.1. It should be emphasised that DfT's over-estimation of the length of the road network (in 2003 and, perhaps, 2004) does not alter the main conclusion that one would draw from the data, which is that (relative to its area) Scotland has one of the shortest road networks in the EC.

4.6 Railways: the figures are for the route length at the end of the financial year 2004/05 (the EU figures are for "2004"). The figure for Scotland is from Table 8.15; the GB figure was taken from Table 6.5 of " TSGB 2005".

4.7 Passenger cars, and new registrations of passenger cars: the "passenger cars" "new registrations of passenger cars" figures for Scotland and GB are for 2005 (the same year as most of the EU figures). They are taken from Table 3.2 of DfT's "Regional Transport Statistics 2006 edition" (" RTS 2006"). It is not known why the EU publication's figure for "new registrations" for the UK is slightly lower than the DfT figure for GB. The source of the EU publication's figures is described as the "Association des Constructeurs Europeens d'Automobiles", so there may be differences in coverage, definition or timing.

4.8 Powered two wheelers: the figures for Scotland and GB are for 2005 (the same year as most of the EU figures). They are taken from Table 3.1 of " RTS 2006", which includes figures for "motorcycles, scooters and mopeds". These are the numbers of vehicles which were licensed at 31st December. The EU publication's figure (for the UK) is much higher than the DfT figure for GB. This is probably because many motorcycles are only used in the summer, and only have six month licences (covering, for example, April to September) because they are stored, off-road and unlicensed, during the winter months. Therefore, many motorcycles are not counted in the figures for the numbers of vehicles "licensed at 31 December" - see the Annex in any recent edition of DfT's "Vehicle Licensing Statistics" bulletin. The source of the EU publication's figure is described as "national sources", so there may well be differences between the definitions used for different countries' figures.

4.9 Goods vehicles: the figures for Scotland and GB are for 2005 (the same year as most of the EU figures). The Scottish figure is taken from Table 1.2 of this publication, and the GB figure is taken from Table 3 of DfT's "Vehicle Licensing Statistics: 2005 data" statistical bulletin. They are the totals of the figures for the body types "light goods" and "goods" (the latter being heavy goods vehicles). The result of using the "body type" figures is slightly different from that which would have been obtained had "taxation group" figures been used.

4.10 Passenger transport - distance travelled and modal shares

4.10.1 The figures for Scotland and GB are for the two year period 2004/2005 (the EU figures are for 2004). Following the increase in its sample size with effect from 2002, the National Travel Survey can provide some figures for a single year for Scotland, but figures for the two year period should be less susceptible to sampling fluctuations. The figures for Scotland are taken from Table 3 of "Travel by Scottish residents: some National Travel Survey results for 2004 and 2005". The GB figures for 2004/2005 were calculated by simply averaging the separate figures for 2004 and 2005 shown in Table 3.1 of DfT's "National Travel Survey: 2005 bulletin.

4.10.2 Some points of detail on these figures should be mentioned. First, the NTS figures that were used relate to the "mode" of travel, not to the "main mode" that is used in some other analyses of NTS figures. Second, published tables of NTS results often group together some modes which appear separately in more detailed tables (e.g. a category entitled "car driver" may include trips which were made as the driver of a van or a lorry); for the purposes of producing this table, figures from the more detailed breakdowns have been used. Third, the "passenger cars" category consists of "car only - driver", "car only - passenger" and "taxi / minicab"; the "buses and coaches" category covers "private hire bus", "bus in London", "local bus" and "non-local bus"; and the "tram / metro" category relates only to the London Underground (the Glasgow Underground is not identified in the results of the NTS).

4.10.3 The NTS average for the total distance travelled per person in GB (covering all modes of transport) is 7,156 miles, or 11,515 kilometres. For the modes of transport shown in the table (which excludes, for example, air and ferry) the NTS average is 11,342 kilometres. This is noticeably less than the GB total of 13,804 kilometres for the modes of travel shown in the table, which was calculated from the overall passenger-kilometre figures published in " EU Energy and Transport in Figures". This difference arises because the two sets of figures are on different bases:

• the NTS figures relate only to personal travel within GB, and are produced from the results of a survey of households across GB;
• the EU publication's figures have been derived by dividing estimates of the total "volume" of travel (passenger-kilometres) within the country by the total population of the country.

The kinds of travel which would be counted using the latter approach (but not by the NTS) include

• travel within GB by foreign tourists and other non-residents;
• travel for business purposes (e.g. to and from meetings);
• and, possibly, some travel in the course of their work by the likes of lorry drivers, postmen and bus drivers.

Therefore, estimates produced using the latter approach will be greater than the NTS estimates, which cover only personal travel by residents.

4.10.4 The table below shows how one can obtain figures for GB which are, in general, closer to those which are calculated from the information in the EU publication.

4.10.5 It is not possible to produce figures on this basis for Scotland, because there are no official estimates of the total passenger-kilometres travelled within Scotland (including travel by foreign tourists and for business purposes). The only Scottish estimates of the average distance travelled per head of population are NTS ones, which cover only personal travel by residents.

4.10.6 Although the two methods produce markedly different average distances ( NTS: 11,342 kilometres; calculated from the statistics in " EU Energy and Transport in Figures": 13,804 kilometres), they produce quite similar modal shares - e.g. the modal share for passenger cars is: NTS - 85.3%; shown in " EU Energy and Transport in Figures" - 87.2% ( NB: in both cases, the modal shares are calculated excluding powered two-wheelers, walking and cycling, for consistency with the figures in the relevant table of the EU publication). Therefore, the modal shares for Scotland, calculated from the NTS results, should be comparable to the modal shares for the EU countries.

4.11 International air passengers (traffic between EU countries): the figures for Scotland and the UK are both for 2005 (the same year as the EU figures). The Scottish figure is taken from the "Total EU countries" in Table 9.3(a) of this publication. It is the number of passengers to and from most of the EU-25 countries for the main Scottish international airports (Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Glasgow Prestwick). The table shows figures for 19 of the 24 EU member states (not counting the UK): these are the countries for which the "international air passenger route analysis" table on the Civil Aviation Authority's Web site (from which the figures for Table 9.3(a) were obtained) shows passengers to/from Scottish airports (for example, the CAA table does not show any passengers between, say, Luxembourg and any Scottish airport in 2005). These figures will underestimate slightly the total number of international passengers between Scotland and EU countries because they do not include (a) passengers on "charter only" routes in cases where fewer than 5,000 passengers were carried between an airport and a particular country, nor (b) any passengers to and from EU countries at other airports in Scotland. The UK figure is taken from Table 2.8 of " TSGB 2006", using the figures for " EU-25".

4.12 Road fatalities: the figures for Scotland and GB are both for 2005 (as are most of the EU figures). The Scottish figure is taken from Table 2 of "Road Accidents Scotland 2005", and the GB figure is taken from Table 8.1 of " TSGB 2006".

4.13 Freight transport - modal shares

4.13.1 The figures for Scotland and GB are both for 2005 (as are the EU figures). The Scottish figures are derived from the tonne-kilometre figures for each mode of transport which appear in Table H2(b) of this publication (the "rail" figure is for the 2004-05 financial year, as the corresponding figure for 2005-06 was not available at the time the table was updated). The GB figures are derived from the tonne-kilometre figures for each mode of transport which appear in Table 4.3 of " TSGB 2006" (road, rail and pipeline) and Table 2.3 of DfT's "Waterborne Freight in the UK: 2005" bulletin (inland waterways).

4.13.2 The figures for Scotland are based on the tonnage of goods lifted in Scotland and the distance on which they are carried on that journey, be it within Scotland or from Scotland to (say) England. For example, the tonne-kilometres for goods taken from (say) Edinburgh to London would be calculated using the full distance between Edinburgh and London (over 660 kilometres) not just the distance between Edinburgh and the border (under 160 kilometres). Therefore, the figures do not represent the modal shares for freight transport within Scotland: they include tonne-kilometres outwith Scotland on journeys which started in Scotland, and they exclude tonne-kilometres within Scotland on journeys which started elsewhere. Table 3.1 of this publication shows that journeys to destinations outwith Scotland account for about 39% of the total tonne-kilometres for road freight lifted in Scotland (some of which would, of course, be for the part of the journey which was within Scotland). Table 8.13 shows that the equivalent figure for rail is 83%; for pipeline it is only a small percentage, because "cross-border" traffic accounts for only a small proportion of the total tonnage carried out of Scotland by pipeline.

4.14 Road traffic volumes: the figures for Scotland and GB are both for 2003 (some EU countries' figures are for that year; others are for earlier years). The figure for Scotland is taken from Table S1, and includes pedal cycle traffic; the figure for GB is from Table 7.2 of " TSGB 06", and relates only to motor vehicle traffic.

« Previous | Contents | Next »