Transport statistics

Transport is a main driver of development and sustainability. The production and dissemination of timely, periodic, harmonious, comparable and complete transport-related statistics and sustainable development indicators in Arab countries, in line with international standards, are imperative for policy formulation, management and planning.

Our approach

Our partners

ESCWA member States;  United Nations Statistics Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs; United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE); MEDSAT Programme of the European Neighbourhood Policy- South Countries;  International Transport Forum (ITF)/OECD; Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics (AITRS); United Nations Road Safety Fund (UNRSF); UN-Habitat; Global Network of Data Officers and Statisticians /UNSD; Independent experts and academia.

Our activities

ESCWA is undertaking the following: 

• Compiling and disseminating transport data annually  

• Providing support to member States to strengthen their national statistical systems in the production and dissemination of transport statistics and indicators  

• Strengthening national, regional and international coordination and collaboration to assist Arab countries in providing high-quality transport data and statistics, and to monitor progress in implementing the 2030 Agenda 

• Harmonizing national transport statistical practices with international statistical standards, methods and concepts, and exploring alternative and complementary data sources that new technologies provide 

• Focusing on statistics related to the volume of road traffic 

• Designing and preparing questionnaires on transport statistics in the Arab region to assess the status of ESCWA member States in terms of collecting transport data and ensuring their quality, completeness, reliability, periodicity of dissemination and timeliness, in line with international and regional standards.  

• Collecting, validating and disseminating transport data, and publishing them on the ESCWA Data Portal with continuous updates 

• Standardizing the Glossary of Transport Terms (English/Arabic) 

• Organizing workshops, seminars and online consultations  

• Building capacity and exchanging knowledge, lessons learned, and best practices 

• Preparing methodological papers, guidelines and case studies. 

• Networking and exchanging knowledge related to transport statistics.