The IRU Road Transport Indices confirm that the BRIC countries outperform OECD countries – including the EU - since 2008 and will continue to do so in 2011.

Geneva – According to the IRU Road Transport Indices which allow the comparison the GDP growth, road freight transport volumes and new vehicle registrations in 58 countries*, the BRIC** countries will continue to drive economic growth, whereas the economic growth rates remain very low in the OECD countries, including the EU.

As GDP has increased by 14.6% in the BRIC countries from 2008 to 2010, it has decreased by 0.9% in the OECD and by 2.7% in the EU.

During the same period new vehicle registration from 2008 to 2010 increased by 13.8% in the BRIC countries, whereas the OECD and the EU experienced a decrease of 36% and 40% respectively.

For 2011, the forecast for the BRIC countries indicates a continuous growth in new vehicle registrations by 7.8%, whereas that of OECD countries including the EU will remain 40% lower than the 2008 level, with a feeble growth of 1.6% and 2.1% respectively.

IRU Head of Sustainable Development, Jens Hügel, said, “The major growth in the BRIC countries from 2008 to 2010, which will continue in 2011, results from their understanding that both systemic innovation and major investment in production tools including in small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) that provide 85% of jobs, such as road transport companies, are instrumental in expediting the real economic growth. This is in clear contrast to the OECD and EU policies, where SMEs and the road transport industry are increasingly penalised with new regulatory burdens and new fiscalities.

To restore sustainable economic growth in 2011 and beyond, the government of all those industrialised countries should recognise, as is the case in BRIC countries, that the non-subsidised production tool – road transport, which interconnects with high quality door-to-door service, all the business to all the markets – should be further facilitated.”

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See country comparisons and comparative data, as well as IRU Indices methodology

*Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Iran,  Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Macedonia (FYROM), Morocco, Moldova, The Netherlands, Norway, People's Republic of China, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uzbekistan.

** Brazil, Russian Federation, India, People's Republic of China

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Press contact: Juliette Ebélé, +41 22 918 27 07, press@iru.org