Transport for Sustainable Development – The case of Inland Transport
In comparison, the unemployment rate in Germany has been steadily decreasing from 7.8 per cent in 2009 to about 5.5 per cent in 2012, making Germany the country with the eighth lowest unemployment rate in the UNECE region (after Norway, Switzerland, Austria, Luxemburg, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands and Azerbaijan). This, as well as Figure 2.4, shows that there is a large diversity in the unemployment rates of the UNECE region. Inland freight transport increased considerably in the UNECE region between 2000 and 2007, with eastern and south-eastern European member States showing increasing demand for freight transport (UNECE, 2012). Following a sharp decline in 2009 due to the 2008–2009 crisis, inland transport freight recovered and continued its increasing trends. The available data on the relationship between economic growth and inland transport indicates a relative ‘decoupling’ since 2000 (Figure 2.5); this may reflect control by other factors such as demographics, income distribution, the global distribution of industrial production and the patterns of transportation — most of which have gone through major changes in recent years (see also Chapter 8.1.1). Figure 2.5
Inland freight transport excluding inland waterways transport (blue line) and nominal GDP growth (red line) trends
220
Level in 2001 = 100
200 180 160 140 120 100 80
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
Source: World Bank Note: The volume of goods transported by railway and road vehicles in metric tons multiplied by km travelled. 11
UNECLAC region (excluding UNECE and UNESCAP member States)
The 2008–2009 economic crises strongly affected the UNECLAC region, with 20 regional countries experiencing recession in 2009. While the majority bounced back in 2010 and 2011, eight countries were still in recession in 2010, including Haiti, which did not find itself in economic downturn due to the global crisis, but as a result of the devastating 2010 earthquake. Nevertheless, average GDP growth rates for the previous decade were positive for several countries, with Panama (7.43 per cent) and the Dominican Republic (5.46 per cent) leading the way in Central America, Peru (6.23 per cent), Columbia (4.53 per cent) and Argentina (4.35 per cent), after its recovery from national recession in the early 2000s; showing strong growth in South America, while Trinidad and Tobago (4.89 per cent) and Cuba (5.22 per cent) growth stood out in the Caribbean region.12 For goods transported by railway: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IS.RRS.GOOD.MT.K6 and for goods transported by road http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IS.ROD.GOOD.MT.K6
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12
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG
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