Statistic 2023: 0.55 cars per EU resident

According to fresh data from Eurostat, EU countries will have an average of 0.55 passenger cars per inhabitant in 2023, only 0.1 percentage points lower than in 2022. Despite stagnation in the total number of cars, the geography and structure of the car fleet is changing rapidly - with a clear trend towards electrification and growing differences between regions.

The absolute leader is the Italian region of Valle d'Aosta, with 2,295 cars registered per 1,000 people. This is almost 2.3 cars for every inhabitant, including infants. The reason for this figure is attributed to favourable taxation, which makes registration in this region particularly favourable. Also in the top 3 are the Province of Trento (1,521 cars per 1,000) and the Province of Bolzano (915), both regions in northern Italy.

Of the 10 regions with the highest car availability - six are in Italy, one each in Finland, Greece, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.

But the lowest rates are in the French overseas territories, such as Mayotte, with only 83 cars per 1,000 inhabitants, as well as in the Greek Peloponnese (206) and Guiana (223). Berlin (340) and Vienna (364), two metropolitan areas with good public transport systems, are also in the top ten with the lowest levels of motorisation.

The most notable trend for 2023 is the dramatic increase in the share of electric cars in some regions. The record was set by Flevoland in the Netherlands, where 17.1 per cent of all passenger cars are electric. Stockholm followed with 10.7%, as well as Hovedstaden in Denmark and Utrecht in the Netherlands with 8.6% each. The top ten regions are 5 regions in Denmark, 2 Dutch, 2 Swedish and 1 Belgian.

By comparison, there are regions in Poland, Spain and Greece where the share of electric cars is close to zero - infrastructure and affordability are still a barrier there.