Iran among World’s Top 30 States with Fastest Road Transportation
In its report the IMF has studied road quality across 162 countries using Google Maps to determine the mean, or average, the time it takes to drive between large cities that are at least 80 kilometers (50 miles) apart.
The data showed that Iran ranks 19th among the world’s top countries with the fastest road transportation, standing above countries like China, Russia, Turkey, Egypt, the UK, Ireland, Finland, Kuwait, India, Brazil, Ukraine and Poland.
It added that the fastest countries are generally the wealthiest ones as measured by gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. For advanced economies, a small improvement in the mean speed was associated with a higher GDP per capita than for low-income developing countries.
The world’s top 30 countries along with Iran are the US, Canada, Argentina, Chile, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, and Greece, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Oman, South Korea, Malaysia, Morocco, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and Australia.
Based on the IMF’s report, road connectivity is key for inclusive development. Roads promote access to economic and social services, with positive effects on agricultural and non-agricultural employment and productivity in rural and urban areas and facilitate internal and external market integration.
The report did not study issues like road safety and other forms of transportation, including rail and air transportation.
A number of countries with the slowest roads (with a speed between 30 to 60 km/h) are Afghanistan, India, Sri Lanka, Yemen, Mongolia, Somalia, Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania, Nigeria, Myanmar, Tajikistan, Indonesia, Colombia and Bolivia.
Road speed is one of the important factors in economic mobility and development. Therefore, countries with slower roads are generally poor and underdeveloped, and in rich countries and large and developed economies, the average road speed is generally higher.
According to the IMF report, the slowest roads are found in the poorest countries—another obstacle to inclusive growth.
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