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Archive:European Neighbourhood Policy - South - transport statistics

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Data extracted in September 2016. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database. Planned article update: September 2017.

This article is part of an online publication; it presents information on a range of transport statistics for the European Union (EU) and the 10 countries that form the European Neighbourhood Policy-South (ENP-South) region: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine [1], Syria and Tunisia. It presents information covering transport infrastructure as well as passenger and freight transport for four different modes of transport: road, rail, air and maritime. Note that information relating to the final energy consumption of the transport sector is presented in Figure 4 of an article on energy and the environment for the ENP-South countries.

Table 1: Length of road network, 2005, 2010 and 2015
(km)
Source: Eurostat (road_if_roads), (road_if_motorwa) and (med_rd1)
Table 2: Road equipment, 2005, 2010 and 2015
(thousands)
Source: Eurostat (tran_r_vehst) and (med_rd2)
Figure 1: New registrations of road goods vehicles, 2005 and 2015 (1)
(per 100 000 inhabitants)
Source: Eurostat (med_rd5) and (med_ps115)
Figure 2: Persons killed in road accidents, 2005 and 2015
Source: Eurostat (med_rd5), (med_ps115), (road_eqr_lrstn) and (demo_gind)
Table 3: Length of rail network, 2005–2015
(km)
Source: Eurostat (rail_if_tracks) and (med_ra1)
Figure 3: Number of rail locomotives, 2005–2015
(2005 = 100)
Source: Eurostat (rail_eq_loco_n) and (med_ra2)
Table 4: Main indicators for rail transport, 2005 and 2015
Source: Eurostat (rail_pa_total), (rail_go_typeall) and (med_ra5)
Table 5: Air transport infrastructure, 2005, 2010 and 2015
Source: Eurostat (avia_if_arp) and (med_air1)
Figure 4: Number of passenger aircraft, by number of seats, 2015
Source: Eurostat (avia_eq_arc_typ) and (med_air3)
Table 6: Main indicators for air transport, 2005, 2010 and 2015
Source: Eurostat (avia_paoc), (avia_gooc) and (med_air5)
Table 7: Maritime transport infrastructure, 2005, 2010 and 2015
Source: Eurostat (med_ma1)
Figure 5: Number of merchant ships, 2005 and 2015
(number of vessels of 1 000 grt and over)
Source: Eurostat (mar_tf_qm) and (med_ma2)
Table 8: Main indicators for maritime transport, 2005, 2010 and 2015
Source: Eurostat (mar_mp_aa_cphd), (mar_mg_aa_cwhd) and (med_ma7)

Road transport

There are considerable variations between the ENP-South countries as regards their levels of economic development, their total (land) area and population numbers and their geography; hence, it is unsurprising to find wide ranging differences in levels of road infrastructure. Table 1 provides some basic information on the length of road and motorway networks, measured in kilometres (km). Based on the latest available information, the ENP-South countries together had a combined road network that was approximately one eighth of the length of the EU-28 network. In 2015, the longest road network among the ENP-South countries was recorded in Egypt (168 thousand km), followed by Algeria (116 thousand km; 2012 data).

Many areas in the ENP-South countries are very sparsely populated and this may, at least to some degree, explain the relatively low level of development in motorway infrastructure. In 2015, the longest motorway network in the ENP-South countries was recorded in Morocco (1.6 thousand km), while the next longest network was reported in Israel, where there were just over 500 km of motorway.

Among the ENP-South countries, car ownership is usually less commonplace than in the EU and cars tend to account for a lower share of the total number of road vehicles. Subject to data availability, Algeria had the highest total number of passenger cars, at 3.7 million in 2015, followed by Israel and Morocco (data relate to private vehicles in circulation), each with just over 2.5 million cars.

In 2014, the share of passenger cars in the total number of road vehicles in the EU-28 was estimated to be 86.0 %. Lebanon was the only ENP-South country to report a higher ratio (94.9 %; also 2014 data), while Israel reported a share that was similar to that in the EU (85.5 % in 2015). The lowest shares were recorded in Algeria and Tunisia (2013 data), where passenger cars accounted for approximately two thirds of the total number of road vehicles. By contrast, Algeria had the highest number and share of lorries (1.5 million or 28.0 %) on its roads in 2015, followed by Egypt in terms of numbers (1.1 million) and by Tunisia in terms of share (26.6 %; 2013 data).

New registrations of road goods vehicles (see Figure 1) refer to the number of newly registered, privately and commercially-owned vehicles; the statistics presented refer to lorries, vans, tractors, trailers and semi-trailers. Relative to the size of its population, Israel had the highest number of new registrations of goods vehicles in 2015, at 328.2 per 100 000 inhabitants. This was almost twice as high as in Algeria (176.4 per 100 000 inhabitants), while Egypt and Morocco were the only other ENP-South countries (among those for which data are available) to record in excess of one new registration per 1 000 inhabitants.

In Israel, the number of new registrations of goods vehicles per 100 000 inhabitants fell overall by 16.6 % between 2005 and 2015, while even greater reductions were recorded in Jordan (-38.6 %) and Palestine (-48.3 %; 2005–2013). By contrast, there was an increase in new registrations of road goods vehicles per 100 000 inhabitants in Morocco and Tunisia (2005–2013), with particularly rapid growth in Algeria (almost doubling).

Figure 2 presents information on the number of persons killed in road accidents. In the EU-28 there was a marked reduction (42 %) in the total number of road deaths between 2005 and 2015, as the estimated number of fatalities fell to 27 thousand. On the basis of the latest information available for the ENP-South countries (no data for Libya or Syria), there were 17.2 thousand persons killed in road accidents in 2015. Egypt recorded the highest number of people killed in road accidents (6.2 thousand) in 2015, followed by Algeria (4.6 thousand) and Morocco (3.6 thousand). Overall, there was a modest increase between 2005 and 2015 in the number of road deaths in the ENP-South countries. The number of people killed in road accidents rose by almost one quarter in Algeria between 2005 and 2015, by almost one tenth in Lebanon, and by 1.5 % overall in Egypt. The remaining ENP-South countries (for which data are available) reported declines in the number of deaths from road accidents during the period under consideration. The largest of these was recorded for Palestine (-60.4 %; 2005–2014), while the number of deaths fell by approximately one quarter in Israel and Jordan.

The information presented in the second part of Figure 2 takes account of the population size of each country, dividing the number of people killed in road accidents by the population to give a ratio per 100 000 inhabitants. Israel and Palestine (respectively 3.8 and 1.4 deaths from road accidents per 100 000 inhabitants) were the only ENP-South countries (for which data are available) to record lower ratios than in the EU-28 (5.2). By contrast, the number of people killed in road accidents was more than twice the EU-28 average in the Maghreb countries of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

Rail transport

Capacity is one aspect which may constrain the expansion of the rail transport sector, either in terms of the number/length of railway lines, or the stock of vehicles that are available to transport people and goods. The rail network in the ENP-South countries was relatively underdeveloped, with the longest networks in Egypt (5.3 thousand km, 2014 data) and Algeria (4.4 thousand km). There are no operational rail lines in Lebanon or Palestine. Between 2005 and 2014, the length of the EU-28 rail network was reduced by approximately 14 %. By contrast, the length of the rail network in each of the ENP-South countries grew during the period 2005 to 2015, with particularly high growth rates in Algeria (up 24.3 % overall) and Israel (42.6 %).

An alternative measure of capacity is provided by a count of the number of rail locomotives. These figures —as shown in Figure 3 — confirm investment in and the expansion of rail infrastructure across several ENP-South countries. This was particularly the case in Jordan and Israel, where the number of rail locomotives increased between 2005 and 2015 by 66 % and 72 % respectively; by contrast, the number of locomotives contracted during the period under consideration in Tunisia. The total number of rail locomotives was highest in Egypt (at just over one thousand in 2015), which was approximately four times as many as in any of the other ENP-South countries for which data are available; the second and third highest counts of rail locomotives were recorded in Algeria (275) and Morocco (258).

Table 4 presents a set of indicators for analysing rail passenger and rail freight developments. There were over 400 million passengers carried on the rail networks of six ENP-South countries in 2015 (no data for Libya or Syria; no railway in Lebanon or Palestine). Between 2005 and 2015 the number of rail passengers almost doubled in Israel and Morocco, while there was also a considerable increase in passenger numbers in Algeria (up by almost 40 %). By contrast, the number of rail passengers in Egypt fell by almost half (or more than 200 million) between 2005 and 2015.

Rail freight services provide an alternative to road freight transport and are generally considered as more environmentally friendly. However, rail services may be constrained by the extent to which the rail network covers a country. Within the EU-28 there was a reduction in rail freight during the period from 2007 to 2013. The volume of rail freight also fell in the majority of ENP-South countries between 2005 and 2015, with only Israel (among those for which data are available) maintaining its level of freight. The largest reductions in rail freight were recorded for Jordan, Egypt and Tunisia, where the weight of freight carried by rail fell by more than half over the period under consideration.

Passenger-kilometres (pkm) and tonne-kilometres (tkm or tonne-km) are also used for analysing transport statistics. On this basis, there was confirmation that the extent of rail passenger transport continued to grow during the period 2005–2015 in Algeria (up 34.7 % overall), Israel (up 61.2 %) and Morocco (up 83.8 %). By contrast, rail freight transport was lower in 2015 than in 2005 in all but one of the ENP-South countries (for which data are available), the exception being Israel. The largest contractions (60–70 %) in the quantity of rail freight — measured in tonne-km — were recorded in Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan.

Air transport

There has been a considerable expansion in air services in recent decades, both in terms of passenger numbers and freight carried. Although it has experienced rapid growth, it is worthwhile noting that the weight of goods carried by air is relatively low, given the high cost of this mode of transport (for example, when compared with maritime freight) especially for bulky items.

Two indicators related to air transport infrastructure are shown in Table 5. Principal airports are defined, for ENP-South countries, as airports recording more than 1.5 million passenger equivalents per annum (a passenger equivalent is a passenger or 100 kg of freight or mail); note that the data for the EU-28 use a different threshold, namely, 150 000 passengers per annum.

In 2015, there were 288 airports in the EU-28 with more than 150 000 passengers per annum. Egypt and Tunisia (both 4) and Morocco (3) had the largest number of principal airports among the ENP-South countries, reflecting the fact that tourism is an important activity in these countries. Given the considerable investment required for building a new airport and the relatively lengthy lead-in times for construction, it is perhaps not surprising to find that there was little (or no) change in the number of principal airports between 2005 and 2015.

An alternative measure of capacity is provided by the length of paved runways (longer than 2.438 km), as shown in the second half of Table 5. A paved runway has a concrete or asphalt surface and is prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft which is characterised by a declared available length suitable for the ground run, landing and take-off of aircraft. The latest data available confirm that air transport services were relatively developed in Morocco and Tunisia (both are tourist destinations), while by far the highest length of paved runways was recorded in Algeria. Note that these data concern runways at all airports, not just principal ones.

The count of the number of passenger aircraft is defined as civil passenger aircraft registered in each country and configured for the transport of passengers, their baggage and freight, including mail (as opposed to civil freight aircraft that are configured solely for the carriage of freight and/or mail). Figure 4 provides information as to the composition of the civilian passenger fleet for 2015 according to the number of seats in each aircraft.

Among the ENP-South countries in 2015, Egypt had the highest number of passenger aircraft (109 in 2014), followed by Tunisia (70) and Algeria (62). In keeping with the results for the EU-28, aircraft with 151–250 seats were the most popular size of aircraft in Tunisia (they accounted for 41.4 % of all passenger aircraft), Israel (51.9 %; 2014 data) and Morocco (75.0 %); in the other ENP-South countries smaller aircraft were more common.

Table 6 presents some main indicators for air passenger and air freight transport. Relatively high growth rates for both air passenger arrivals and air freight and mail arrivals were observed for the ENP-South countries during the period 2005 to 2015. With the exception of Tunisia, there was growth between 2005 and 2015 in air passenger numbers and in air freight and mail quantities for each of the ENP-South countries (for which data are available). Jordan, Lebanon (2005–2014) and Morocco recorded the highest growth rates for passengers, as their number of air passenger arrivals more or less doubled over the period under consideration; growth rates for air freight and mail arrivals were usually less pronounced.

These developments over the period 2005–2015 hide, to some degree, the effects of the Arab spring and associated uncertainties in 2011 and thereafter, which resulted in a rapid decline in air passenger arrivals, which was particularly marked in Egypt and Tunisia. In Egypt, annual air passenger numbers fell by 27.2 % in 2011 (compared with their relative high of 2010) and, although recovering somewhat thereafter, remained 14.3 % lower in 2015 than they had been in 2010. In Tunisia, there was an even greater reduction in air passenger arrivals in 2011 (-30.8 %), although there was a rebound of similar magnitude in 2012, with arrivals close to their relative peak of 2010 during the next three years (2012–2014). In 2015, there was a rapid downturn in the number of air passenger arrivals in Tunisia, which may be attributed to the impact of the terror attacks at the end of June 2015 which led to a collapse in the number of tourist arrivals.

Maritime transport

A principal port is defined as a port handling more than one million tonnes of cargo or recording more than 200 000 passenger movements per annum. Egypt had 15 principal ports in 2015, the highest numbers recorded among the ENP-South countries (for which data are available); there were 10 principal ports in Algeria, while Morocco (8) and Tunisia (7) had the next highest numbers. An alternative measure of capacity is provided by the length of quays that are available in principal ports. The highest length was recorded in Algeria (35.7 km), closely followed by Egypt (34.8 km) and then Morocco (21.9 km).

Figure 5 provides information on the number of merchant ships registered in each of the ENP-South countries; it is important to note that it is relatively common for merchant ships to sail under a flag of convenience (whereby a ship can be registered to another country and therefore is not included in the statistics presented here). In 2014, there were 85 merchant vessels of 1 000 grt and over in Egypt, while Israel (35 vessels) and Jordan (32 vessels) recorded the next highest levels in 2015.

The final table in this article presents some main indicators for maritime passenger and freight transport. The highest number of passengers carried among the ENP-South countries was recorded in Morocco (2.1 million in 2015), due in part to its close proximity and ties to mainland Europe, while none of the remaining ENP-South countries carried more than half a million passengers.

Among the ENP-South countries, there was modest growth (3.4 %) in the number of passenger carried by maritime services in Morocco between 2005 and 2015, while a much higher growth rate was recorded in Tunisia (22.3 %). However, each of the remaining ENP-South countries (among those for which data are available) reported a fall in their number of sea passengers, with sizeable contractions in Egypt (2005–2014), Jordan and Algeria.

Maritime transport is especially common for bulky, low value products. In each of the ENP-South countries (for which data are available) there was an increase in the weight of freight carried by sea between 2005 and 2015. Freight transport expanded at a rapid pace in several of the ENP-South countries, with the freight carried to Algeria and Egypt (2005–2014) almost doubling. The latest information available shows that Egypt had the highest quantity of inward freight carried by sea, at 107 million tonnes in 2014, which was approximately twice as high as the weight of sea freight carried to Algeria (53 million tonnes in 2015) or to Morocco (50 million tonnes in 2015). By contrast, the weight of EU-28 freight arrivals by sea was 2.3 billion tonnes in 2014, which marked an overall reduction of 3.7 % when compared with 2005.

Data sources and availability

Data for ENP-South countries are supplied by and under the responsibility of the national statistical authorities of each country on a voluntary basis. The data presented in this article result from an annual data collection cycle that has been established by Eurostat (in 2015 and 2016, data were not collected from either Libya or Syria). These statistics are available free-of-charge on Eurostat’s website, together with a range of different indicators covering most socio-economic areas.

For the EU-28, transport statistics are available with an annual frequency and generally begin in the early 1990s. Eurostat’s statistics describe the most important features of transport, not only in terms of the quantities of freight and numbers of passengers that are moved each year, or the number of vehicles and infrastructure that are used, but also the contribution of transport services to the economy as a whole. Data collection is supported by several legal acts obliging the EU Member States to report statistical data (framework legislation and implementing legislation, organised according to the mode of transport under consideration), as well as voluntary agreements to supply additional data.

Passenger transport statistics

The majority of passenger transport statistics are based on vehicle movements in each of the reporting countries, regardless of the nationality of the vehicle or vessel involved (the ‘territoriality principle’). For this reason, the measure of passenger-kilometres (pkm, which represents one passenger travelling a distance of one kilometre) is generally considered as a more reliable measure, as a count of passengers entails a higher risk of double-counting, particularly for international transport. A rail passenger is any person, excluding members of the train crew, who makes a journey by rail. Air transport statistics concern national and international transport, as measured by the number of passengers carried; information is collected for arrivals and departures. A sea passenger is defined as any person that makes a sea journey on a merchant ship; service staff are excluded, as are non-fare paying crew members travelling but not assigned, as well as infants in arms.

Eurostat publishes transport safety data for road, rail, inland waterways and air transport. CARE is the European centralised database on road accidents which result in death or injury across the EU, developed on the basis of Council Decision 93/704/EC; it is managed by the Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport. A road death is defined as the number of deaths that are caused by road accidents and which occur within 30 days from the date of the accident; the count includes drivers and passengers in motorised vehicles and on bicycles who might be involved in road accidents, as well as pedestrians.

Freight transport statistics

As with passenger transport statistics, freight transport statistics are generally based on movements in each reporting country, regardless of the nationality of the vehicle or vessel involved (the ‘territoriality principle’). For this reason, the measure of tonne-kilometres (tkm or tonne-km, in other words, one tonne of goods travelling a distance of one kilometre) is generally considered a more reliable measure when analysing freight transport statistics, as the simple use of tonnes entails a higher risk of double-counting, particularly for international transport. The weight of goods transported by rail is the gross-gross weight. This includes the total weight of the goods, all packaging, and the tare weight of the container, swap-body and pallets containing goods; it also includes road goods vehicles that are carried by rail. By contrast, the weight measured for maritime and road freight transport is the gross weight (in other words, excluding the tare weight).


Tables in this article use the following notation:

Value in italics     data value is forecasted, provisional or estimated and is therefore likely to change;
: not available, confidential or unreliable value.
– not applicable.

Context

An efficient and well-functioning passenger and freight transport system is vital for enterprises and inhabitants. The ability to move goods safely, quickly and cost-efficiently to markets is important for international trade, national distributive trades, and economic development. The rapid increase in global trade up to the onset of the financial and economic crisis and the deepening integration of the EU’s single market, alongside a range of economic practices (including the concentration of production in fewer sites to reap economies of scale, delocalisation, and just-in-time deliveries), may explain — at least to some degree — developments in the volume of freight being transported.

The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport is responsible for developing transport policy within the EU. It aims to develop policy to foster clean, safe and efficient travel throughout Europe, underpinning the internal market for goods (transferring them between their place of production and consumption) and the right of citizens to travel freely throughout the EU (for both work and pleasure).

European Neighbourhood Policy

On 18 November 2015, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the European Commission jointly presented a review of the European Neighbourhood Policy (SWD(2015) 500 final) which underlined a new approach for the EU in relation to its eastern and southern neighbours, based on stabilising the region in political, economic, and security-related terms.

In cooperation with its ENP partners, Eurostat has the responsibility ‘to promote and implement the use of European and internationally recognised standards and methodology for the production of statistics necessary for developing and monitoring policy achievements in all policy areas’. Eurostat undertakes the task of coordinating EU efforts to increase the statistical capacity of the ENP countries. Additional information on the policy context of the ENP is provided here.

See also

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Database

Transport (med_tr)
Railway transport (rail)
Road transport (road)
Maritime transport (mar)
Air transport (avia)

Dedicated section

Methodology / Metadata

Source data for tables, figures and maps (MS Excel)

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ This designation shall not be construed as recognition of a State of Palestine and is without prejudice to the individual positions of the Member States on this issue.


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