in-cyprus 18 January 2024
Cyprus ranks among the top four European countries with the highest number of passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants, according to data released yesterday by Eurostat.
This confirms the commonly held belief that Cypriots have a strong preference for owning cars.
In 2020, the average number of passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants in the EU was 560.
Over the decade from 2012 to 2022, the average number increased by 14.3% from 490 to 560 passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants. Italy had the highest number with 684 passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants, followed by Luxembourg [678], Finland [661] and Cyprus [658].
Over the ten-year period from 2012 to 2022, the number of passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants in Cyprus increased by 19.85%.
Latvia had the lowest rate with 414 passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants, followed by Romania (417) and Hungary (424).
Data indicate that Central and Eastern European countries experienced high growth rates between 2012 and 2022.
Among EU countries, Romania recorded the highest increase in passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants (+86.2%, +193), followed by Croatia (+44.8%, +152), Hungary (+40.9%, +123), Slovakia (+40.1%, +135), and Estonia (+39.7%, +181).
In 11 out of 23 EU member states with available data for 2022, more than 50% of cars were petrol-driven.
The Netherlands reported the highest percentage of petrol-driven cars (85.2%), followed by Cyprus (78.2%), Finland (72.6%), and Denmark (68.6%).
Petrol-driven cars exceeded 50% in Lithuania (67.0%), Latvia (65.9%), Ireland (57.2%), Portugal (56.5%), Croatia (55.8%), Spain (54.3%), France (53.4%), Austria (52.3%), Romania (50.2%), and Slovenia (50.1%). Alternative fuels (excluding hybrid vehicles) significantly contributed in Italy (10.0%), Sweden (8.3%), and Lithuania (7.1%).
Examining the number of road tractors per 1,000 inhabitants, the Baltic and some Central and Eastern European countries dominated in 2022.
The highest rates were recorded in Lithuania (average of 17.3 road tractors per 1,000 inhabitants), followed by Poland (12.9), Estonia (9.5), Hungary (9.3), and Romania (8.8). At the other end of the spectrum were the Czech Republic (0.3), Sweden (0.9), Austria and Malta (both 2.2), Cyprus and Greece (both 2.3).
