Newsroom
Cyprus had the third highest number of cars per capita in the EU in 2019, according to data published by Eurostat.
According to the EU’s statistics office, Luxembourg ranked first with 681 passenger vehicles per thousand inhabitants, Italy followed with 663 vehicles per thousand inhabitants and Cyprus was in third place with 645 vehicles per thousand inhabitants.
Finland and Poland nearly placed third as well with 642 registered vehicles per thousand inhabitants.
As for Luxembourg, however, Eurostat notes that the number may be affected by people working but not residing in the country (cross-border workers), and using company cars registered in Luxembourg.
At the other end of the list with the lowest driving ratios are Romania (357 vehicles per thousand inhabitants), Latvia (381 vehicles per thousand inhabitants) and Hungary (390 vehicles per thousand inhabitants).
The highest number of registered passenger vehicles per country in 2019 was recorded in Germany, where 48 million cars were registered. Followed by Italy (40 million) and France (32 million).
The largest increase in the number of registered vehicles between 2015 and 2019 was recorded in Romania (34% increase), Lithuania (20%), Hungary (19%) and Slovakia and Poland (18%).
The only country in which the number of registered vehicles decreased during the same period was Bulgaria, where it fell by 11%.
At the same time, in several countries the percentage of "old" cars (aged 20 and over) remained high in 2019, with the highest percentages being recorded in Poland (37.9%), Estonia (31.5%), Finland (26.9%) and Lithuania (22.6%).
The proportion of new cars (less than two years old) was higher in Ireland (28.8%), Luxembourg (23.7%), Belgium (22.9%) and Denmark (22.6%).
In recent years some countries have supported the purchase of new vehicles with low greenhouse gas emissions and the withdrawal of old ones with related programs. The goal of the programs is to replace vehicles with more environmentally friendly vehicles, while stimulating the economy.
