NTO Driving Forces

This section describes the main driving forces towards the transport system in Finland:

• General view: Finland is a country of sparse population and long distances. The ongoing and foreseeable structural change means that the main population centres will grow further, whereas the countryside will become even more sparsely populated. The urban sprawl is likely to continue, and the movement of retail activities from city centres to edge of town locations will continue.

• Population and housing: There is an ongoing migration from north to south of Finland, especially to towns and population centres. The share of aged population will increase from current 15 % to 26 % by the year 2030. The number of households will increase more rapidly as the average size of households is decreasing.

• Economic activity: Forest and metal have traditionally been the backbone of Finnish industry. Now information industry is of equal or more importance. The average annual growth of GDP has been 2,6 % but the forecast for the year 2000 is around 4 %. The share of primary production, refining industry and services is 4 %, 33 % and 63 %, respectively.
  

The main impacts these changes will have on the transport system can be summarised as follows:

• The demand for transport will increase within and between the main population centres.
• In the main population centres, there will be need for large infrastructure investments.
• Urban sprawl will increase the average length of daily trips.
• The regions with decreasing population and economic activity will face problems in maintaining public transport services.

Driving forces and Transport Demand -overview Driving forces and Transport Demand -recent research