Transport Intensity of the Global Economy in 1995-2015

Transport covers the area where mutual relations between economy and its requirements take place, and where it affects – not always in a positive way – its surrounding. Simultaneously, it is the transport that marks the direction for the infrastructure development, and hence for the whole economy. The close association between the economy and transport is confirmed by the amount of carriages in the world. The excessive increase of the transport intensity is one of the phenomena that negatively affect the economy. Expenditures incurred for the transport activities are expressed indirectly by the amount of traffic (in tonnes) and by the volume of transport performance (in tonne-km). In contrast, the effect of socio-economic activities are values of global product and national income. The article studied the transport activity in terms of volume of transport work (in tkm) total for all modes of transport, the effects of economic and social activity expressed by means of the value of gross domestic product, as well as the development of the transport intensity of national economies for the selected countries (regions) and for Poland. Analysed were both the curve with exponential functions and polynomial curves, and on their basis conclusions were drawn.