Transport and environment 2013

This report contains statistics and indicators for the transport sector that show the relationships between the environment and transport. Norwegian data are compared to international data.

In 2012, the average daily per capita distance driven by passenger cars in Norway was 33.5 kilometres, the longest in Europe. In 2011, the total transport demand of passenger cars in Norway was 59.9 billion passenger kilometres. This is almost twelve times higher than in 1960. Following two years of decrease, there was a 4 per cent increase in freight transport on road in the EU in 2010. The financial crisis had a negative impact on the freight transport demand in Norway also, but in 2010 there was an increase of almost 7 per cent, followed by a modest decrease in 2011.

By the end of 2012, the vehicle fleet in Norway had increased to almost 3.7 million, of which over 2.4 million were passenger cars. In 2010, there were 469 passenger cars per 1 000 inhabitants in Norway. In Luxembourg there were 659, the highest in Europe. By the end of 2012, diesel passenger cars made up 42 per cent of the total number of passenger cars in Norway. At the end of 2012, gasoline driven passenger cars had an average age of 13.7 years and diesel cars only 6.2 years. A total of 117 578 passenger cars and vans were scrapped in 2012. The average age of scrapped passenger cars was 18.1 years.

 As of 31 December 2012, the length of public roads in Norway was 93 869 km, of which 392 km are motorways. This is by far the shortest motorway length in the Nordic countries. The length of railways in Norway is a little over 4 000 km.

From 1991, prices of all types of passenger transport in Norway have increased more than the increase in the consumer price index. The taxes account for about 60 per cent of the price of gasoline.

Transportation accounts for about a third of total energy consumption in Europe, and road transport makes up the by far largest share. The total energy use for transportation purposes has increased markedly. The international financial crisis caused a temporary decrease. The use of biofuels in Norway is increasing.

Road traffic is by far the most important source of transport emissions of greenhouse gases. A minor increase in fuel sales led to a corresponding rise, 0.4 per cent, in the emissions from road traffic in Norway in 2012, and the emission were 10.1 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalents. In 2012, road traffic accounted for almost 60 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions from mobile sources and 19 per cent of total Norwegian greenhouse gas emissions.

Road traffic is the most important source of noise annoyance in Norway.

In 2012, there were 145 traffic related fatalities, the lowest number since 1950. During the season 2011/2012, nearly 5 800 deer were killed by car or train in Norway.

Fragmentation of areas due to the expansion of transport infrastructure and the increase in traffic represents a threat to biodiversity.

In the city regions Oslo/Akershus, Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim, Kristiansand, Drammen, Grenland and Tromsø, a total of 197 million passengers, 540 000 each day, were transported by bus in 2011.

In 2012 there were 22.2 million passengers at Oslo Airport. Of these, 4.8 million were in transit.

About one fifth of the areas within the densely build-up parts of the four most populous municipalities are covered by roads and railways.