Tuesday, November 18th, 2025
The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE), together with Eurostat, has published the EU Transport in Figures – Statistical Pocketbook 2025, providing a comprehensive overview of the transport sector’s performance across the European Union.
This annual publication offers a detailed statistical picture of passenger and freight transport, energy consumption, infrastructure, safety, and environmental performance, complemented by key economic and social indicators. It remains one of the European Commission’s most authoritative reference sources, widely used by policymakers, researchers, industry stakeholders, and innovation networks such as ALICE to understand transport trends and inform strategic decisions.
The pocketbook compiles and analyses data from all EU-27 Member States and selected international partners, offering comparable datasets across transport modes and sectors. It examines how Europe’s transport system contributes to competitiveness, social cohesion, and sustainability while adapting to global challenges such as digitalisation, climate change, and energy transition.
It provides consistent data in five major areas:
Economic and structural context: The macroeconomic framework shaping transport, including GDP growth, trade volumes, population dynamics, energy prices, and transport intensity (measured as transport activity relative to GDP).
Passenger transport: Demand trends across road, rail, aviation, and maritime modes, including car ownership rates, urban public transport use, and the recovery of air travel following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Freight transport: The evolution of tonne-kilometres by mode (road, rail, inland waterways, maritime, and air), showing how goods move across Europe and beyond. The data also explore cross-border and multimodal logistics performance, with new indicators reflecting the role of ports and intermodal terminals in EU trade.
Energy and environment: Energy use and CO₂ emissions by mode, electrification of vehicles, and the penetration of renewable energy sources in transport. The report tracks progress toward the EU’s 2030 and 2050 decarbonisation objectives, highlighting both achievements and remaining gaps.
Infrastructure and safety: Investment levels in the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), infrastructure length and capacity, and the continued reduction in road fatalities across the EU, alongside new data on rail and maritime safety.
Together, these indicators offer a clear factual basis for assessing how Europe’s transport system is evolving towards the goals of efficiency, sustainability, and resilience set out in the EU Smart and Sustainable Mobility Strategy.
The 2025 edition confirms that the European freight transport sector continues to recover and adapt despite geopolitical and economic uncertainty. Road freight remains dominant, representing around 75% of inland freight activity, while rail and inland waterways have seen modest but steady growth, supported by EU and national investments in intermodal infrastructure. Maritime freight continues to play a crucial role, handling over 70% of external trade volumes, demonstrating strong resilience across global supply chains.
On the energy front, the report highlights slow but steady progress in the decarbonisation of freight transport. While passenger transport leads the uptake of electric and hybrid vehicles, the transition of heavy-duty and long-haul freight remains challenging. Progress in deploying zero-emission trucks, alternative fuels, charging and refuelling infrastructure, and harmonised EU frameworks will be key to meeting climate targets.
Environmental data confirm that freight transport remains a major contributor to EU greenhouse gas emissions, particularly from road freight. However, ongoing energy transition policies, combined with advances in automation and digitalisation, are expected to drive greater efficiency and sustainability across the logistics ecosystem.
Investment patterns show continued prioritisation of TEN-T freight corridors and multimodal hubs, reflecting the EU’s long-term commitment to resilient and connected logistics networks across modes.
For logistics and freight innovation stakeholders, the EU Transport in Figures Pocketbook provides a crucial evidence base to track progress towards zero-emission and digitally integrated logistics. The data inform ALICE’s roadmaps and projects, helping align innovation efforts with EU transport and climate policy priorities.
Access the publication: https://transport.ec.europa.eu/facts-funding/studies-data/eu-transport-figures-statistical-pocketbook/statistical-pocketbook-2025_en