Eurostat: Number of cars per inhabitant rate in Cyprus remains high

Cyprus continued to be one of the EU countries with the largest number of passenger cars per inhabitant in 2023, even if it remained much lower than the EU regions with the highest concentration of cars, according to Eurostat.

Meanwhile, Cyprus is among the countries with the lowest share of electric cars compared to the overall number of passenger cars in the country.

More specifically, in Cyprus there were 647 cars per thousand inhabitants (0.65 per inhabitant) in 2023 a little over 2022 when the rate stood at 633 cars per thousand inhabitants (0.63 per inhabitant). This rate has been steadily increasing since 1990, the earliest year for which data exists, when it stood at 304 cars per thousand inhabitants (0.30 per inhabitant).

The pan-European average rate remained relatively stable in 2023, at 0.55 passenger cars per inhabitant, down 0.1 percentage points compared with 2022.

This information is included in regional (at the NUTS 2 level) transport statistics published by Eurostat. Cyprus is considered a single region for statistical services at this level.

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

In 2023, the three highest motorisation rates among EU regions were in Italy: Valle d’Aosta with 2295 passenger cars per thousand inhabitants, Trento with 1521 cars per thousand inhabitants and Bolzano with 915 cars per thousand inhabitants.

Among the 10 regions with the highest motorisation rate, six were in Italy, and one each in Finland, Greece (specifically the Attica region), the Netherlands and Czechia.

At the other end of the range, the French overseas region Mayotte (83 passenger cars per thousand inhabitants) was followed by Peloponnisos in Greece (206 per thousand inhabitants) and French Guyane (223 per 1 000 inhabitants).

Of the 10 regions with the lowest motorisation rate, four were in Greece, two were in France, two in Romania, and one each in Germany and Austria. Notably, two among these were the metropolitan areas of Berlin (340) and Wien (364).

When it comes to the share of electric cars, the highest shares were recorded in regions in the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark.

The highest shares were recorded in Flevoland (17.1%) in the Netherlands, Stockholm (10.7%) in Sweden, the region around Copenhagen in Denmark and Utrecht in the Netherlands (both 8.6%).

From the top 10 regions, five were in Denmark, two in the Netherlands, two in Sweden and one in Belgium.

By contrast, out of the 10 regions with the lowest shares of electric cars (close to zero), six regions were in Greece, two in Spain and two in Poland. Cyprus was rather low, at just 0.3%.