Cyprus held the third place in motorisation rates among the EU member states in 2019, following Luxembourg and Italy, according to data provided by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical service.
Luxembourg was significantly ahead with 681 passenger cars per thousand inhabitants, followed by Italy in second place, with 663 cars per thousand inhabitants, Cyprus (645 cars per thousand inhabitants)
Cyprus was closely followed by Finland and Poland (both with 642 cars per thousand inhabitants).
Eurostat notes that in the case of Luxembourg, the figure on passenger cars per inhabitant may be influenced by persons commuting for work from other countries (cross-border workers) using company cars registered in the country.
The lowest motorisation rates were found in Romania (357 cars per thousand inhabitants), Latvia (381 cars per thousand inhabitants) and Hungary (390 cars per thousand inhabitants).
The highest number of total registered passenger cars for 2019 was recorded in Germany with almost 48 million cars, followed by Italy (40 million) and France (32 million).
The highest increase in the number of registered passenger cars between 2015 and 2019 was recorded in Romania (34%), Lithuania (20%), Hungary (19%) and Slovakia and Poland (18%).
The only member state where the number of register passenger cars declined over this period was Bulgaria (11%).
Also in 2019, several EU Member States reported a large share of ‘old’ passenger cars (20 years or older). The highest shares were registered by Poland (37.9%), Estonia (31.5%), Finland (26.9%) and Lithuania (22.6%).
The shares of new cars (less than 2 years old) were highest in Ireland (28.8%), Luxembourg (23.7%), Belgium (22.9%) and Denmark (22.6%).
Eurostat notes that in recent years, a number of countries have been offering programmes supporting the purchase of new cars with low emissions while scrapping the owners’ old car. The general aim of these programmes has been the renewal of the passenger car fleet with lower emission cars while simultaneously stimulating the economy.
