The Transport in Review Working Paper Series: Samoa provides a diagnostic baseline of Samoa’s transport sector at the start of the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport. It brings together available data, policy analysis, and regional comparisons to assess the country's transport system across connectivity, access, safety, resilience, decarbonization, technology, institutions, inclusion, and finance. 

Samoa's transport system is central to national development, tourism, trade, inter-island connectivity, and access to essential services. However, it is also under growing pressure from climate risks, rising motorization, safety challenges, limited fiscal space, and fragmented transport data. Around 70% of Samoans live within one kilometer of the coast, while vehicle ownership has increased much faster than population growth over the past decade.

The report reviews how these pressures affect Samoa's roads, aviation, maritime transport, public transport, walking, cycling, road safety, transport emissions, air quality, infrastructure resilience, gender inclusion, disability access, and investment needs. It also examines the policy and institutional frameworks that can support implementation over the coming decade.

The assessment finds that Samoa already has many of the strategies and mandates needed to guide sustainable transport progress. The next step is to strengthen implementation, improve data integration, and align financing with the country's goals for safer, more resilient, more inclusive, and lower-carbon transport.

The Transport in Review Working Paper Series: Samoa was prepared with support from the Asian Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and the World Bank.

View the Report