Car Free Day 2006 <br>Nearly one car per two inhabitants in the EU25 in 2004<br>

STAT/06/125

19 September 2006

Car Free Day 2006
Nearly one car per two inhabitants in the EU25 in 2004
Number of cars increased by nearly 40% between 1990 and 2004

Car Free Day which takes place on 22 September 2006 is a part of European Mobility Week¹, dedicated to sustainable mobility. The objective of the week is to facilitate the debate on the necessity for changes in behaviour in relation to mobility and in particular the use of the private car. On this occasion Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, publishes statistics on passenger cars² and road accident deaths in the EU25 and the Member States, as well as the EFTA countries.

Most cars per inhabitant in Luxembourg, Italy and Portugal

There were 216 million passenger cars in total in the EU25 in 2004. Between 1990 and 2004, the total number of cars in the EU25 increased by 38%. The largest increases were recorded in Lithuania (+167%), Latvia (+142%), Portugal (+135%), Poland (+128%) and Greece (+121%). On the other hand, Sweden (+14%), Denmark (+20%) and Finland (+21%) registered the smallest increases.

There were 472 cars per 1 000 inhabitants on average in the EU25 in 2004, compared to 759 cars per 1 000 inhabitants in the USA in 2003. The Member State with the highest ratio was Luxembourg, with 659 cars per 1000 inhabitants. Italy (581), Portugal (572), Germany (546), Malta (525) and Austria (501) also recorded more than one car per two inhabitants. At the other end of the scale were Slovakia (222), Hungary (280) and Latvia (297).

In 2004, more than 90% of the cars in Sweden (95%), Denmark (93% in 2002) and Cyprus (90%) had petrol engines, while the Member States with the highest shares of diesel engines were Austria (49%), Belgium (47%) and France (43% in 2003).

More than 43 000 deaths due to road accidents in the EU25 in 2004

There were 95 road accident deaths³ per million inhabitants in the EU25 in 2004, the rate having decreased steadily from 162 in 1991. Even if the rate has fallen in nearly all Member States, the total number of deaths due to road accidents was more than 43 000 in the EU25 in 2004.

The fatality rate halved or more between 1991 and 2004 in Portugal, Estonia, Spain, Germany, France and Luxembourg. In 2004, the Member States with the lowest rates were Malta (33 deaths per million inhabitants), the Netherlands (49), Sweden (53) and the United Kingdom (56). Latvia (222), Lithuania (218), Cyprus (160) and Poland (150) recorded the highest rates. In the USA the rate was 146 in 2004.

Number of cars and road accident deaths

Source: DG Energy and Transport / Eurostat
: Data not available
* 2003: Czech Republic, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Iceland, Switzerland/2002: Denmark, Italy/2001: Luxembourg/2000: Malta, Norway
** The sum of use of petrol and diesel engines may not add up to 100, due to the use of other engines
*** Iceland, Norway, Switzerland: 1990

1. Please see: http://www.mobilityweek-europe.org
2. Eurostat, Statistics in focus, Transport, 9/2006 “Passenger transport in the European Union”.
3. Deaths caused by road accidents include drivers and passengers of motorised vehicles and pedal cycles as well as pedestrians, killed within 30 days from the day of the accident. For Member States not using this definition, corrective factors were applied.