Passenger cars per inhabitant stable in 2023

In 2023, there were on average 0.55 passenger cars per inhabitant in the EU, down 0.1 percentage points compared with 2022.

This information comes from data on regional transport statistics published by Eurostat today. The article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article on stock of vehicles at regional level. 

Regional rates of motorisation (passenger cars per 1 000 inhabitants) are often linked to economic conditions but can also be affected by specific circumstances. For example, the Valle d’Aosta’s record rate was influenced by favourable taxation rules. 

In 2023, the top 3 regions with the highest motorisation rate were in Italy: Valle d’Aosta with 2 295 passenger cars per 1 000 inhabitants, Provincia Autonoma di Trento with 1 521 cars per 1 000 inhabitants and Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano/Bozen with 915 cars per 1 000 inhabitants. Among the 10 regions with the highest motorisation rate, 6 were in Italy, and 1 in Finland, Greece, the Netherlands and Czechia.

Source dataset: tran_r_vehst

At the other end of the range, French overseas region Mayotte (83 passenger cars per 1 000 inhabitants) was followed by Greek Peloponnisos (206 per 1 000 inhabitants) and French Guyane (223 per 1 000 inhabitants). Of the 10 regions with the lowest motorisation rate, 4 were in Greece, 2 were in France, 2 in Romania, and 1 in Germany and Austria. Notably, 2 among these were the metropolitan areas of Berlin (340) and Wien (364).

Highest share of electric cars: the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark

Regions in the Netherlands and Sweden stood out among the EU regions with the highest share of electric passenger cars in all cars. The highest shares were recorded in Flevoland (17.1%) in the Netherlands, Stockholm (10.7%) in Sweden, Hovedstaden in Denmark and Utrecht in the Netherlands (both 8.6%). In the top 10 regions, 5 were in Denmark, 2 in the Netherlands, 2 in Sweden and 1 in Belgium.

Source dataset: tran_r_elvehst

By contrast, out of the 10 regions with the lowest shares of electric cars (close to zero), 6 regions were in Greece, 2 in Spain and 2 in Poland.