Data / Rankings / Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants / EU countries

EU countries by passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants

Luxembourg had the highest passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants of 27 EU countries in 2016, at 662 per 1,000 inhabitants. Romania had the lowest, at 279 per 1,000 inhabitants. The median was 492 per 1,000 inhabitants and the figure for the European Union (27) was 518 per 1,000 inhabitants. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

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Highest662Luxembourg
Lowest279Romania
Median49227 EU countries
European Union (27)518History

Map of EU countries, 2016

Austria: 550 per 1,000 inhabitantsBelgium: 505 per 1,000 inhabitantsBulgaria: 459 per 1,000 inhabitantsCyprus: 584 per 1,000 inhabitantsCzechia: 502 per 1,000 inhabitantsGermany: 555 per 1,000 inhabitantsDenmark: 429 per 1,000 inhabitantsEstonia: 534 per 1,000 inhabitantsSpain: 492 per 1,000 inhabitantsFinland: 604 per 1,000 inhabitantsFrance: 564 per 1,000 inhabitantsGreece: 482 per 1,000 inhabitantsCroatia: 381 per 1,000 inhabitantsHungary: 340 per 1,000 inhabitantsIreland: 438 per 1,000 inhabitantsItaly: 631 per 1,000 inhabitantsLithuania: 454 per 1,000 inhabitantsLuxembourg: 662 per 1,000 inhabitantsLatvia: 341 per 1,000 inhabitantsMalta: 616 per 1,000 inhabitantsNetherlands: 481 per 1,000 inhabitantsPoland: 493 per 1,000 inhabitantsPortugal: 469 per 1,000 inhabitantsRomania: 279 per 1,000 inhabitantsSweden: 477 per 1,000 inhabitantsSlovenia: 531 per 1,000 inhabitantsSlovakia: 390 per 1,000 inhabitants
  • Under 430
  • 430 to 480
  • 480 to 500
  • 500 to 560
  • 560 and over
per 1,000 inhabitants, 2016. Source: Eurostat, Passenger cars per thousand inhabitants (road_eqs_carhab). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2016

Luxembourg: 662 per 1,000 inhabitantsLuxembourg662Italy: 631 per 1,000 inhabitantsItaly631Malta: 616 per 1,000 inhabitantsMalta616Finland: 604 per 1,000 inhabitantsFinland604Cyprus: 584 per 1,000 inhabitantsCyprus584France: 564 per 1,000 inhabitantsFrance564Germany: 555 per 1,000 inhabitantsGermany555Austria: 550 per 1,000 inhabitantsAustria550Estonia: 534 per 1,000 inhabitantsEstonia534Slovenia: 531 per 1,000 inhabitantsSlovenia531Belgium: 505 per 1,000 inhabitantsBelgium505Czechia: 502 per 1,000 inhabitantsCzechia502Poland: 493 per 1,000 inhabitantsPoland493Spain: 492 per 1,000 inhabitantsSpain492Greece: 482 per 1,000 inhabitantsGreece482Netherlands: 481 per 1,000 inhabitantsNetherlands481Sweden: 477 per 1,000 inhabitantsSweden477Portugal: 469 per 1,000 inhabitantsPortugal469Bulgaria: 459 per 1,000 inhabitantsBulgaria459Lithuania: 454 per 1,000 inhabitantsLithuania454Ireland: 438 per 1,000 inhabitantsIreland438Denmark: 429 per 1,000 inhabitantsDenmark429Slovakia: 390 per 1,000 inhabitantsSlovakia390Croatia: 381 per 1,000 inhabitantsCroatia381Latvia: 341 per 1,000 inhabitantsLatvia341Hungary: 340 per 1,000 inhabitantsHungary340Romania: 279 per 1,000 inhabitantsRomania279Luxembourg: 662 per 1,000 inhabitantsLuxembourg662Italy: 631 per 1,000 inhabitantsItaly631Malta: 616 per 1,000 inhabitantsMalta616Finland: 604 per 1,000 inhabitantsFinland604Cyprus: 584 per 1,000 inhabitantsCyprus584France: 564 per 1,000 inhabitantsFrance564Germany: 555 per 1,000 inhabitantsGermany555Austria: 550 per 1,000 inhabitantsAustria550Estonia: 534 per 1,000 inhabitantsEstonia534Slovenia: 531 per 1,000 inhabitantsSlovenia531Belgium: 505 per 1,000 inhabitantsBelgium505Czechia: 502 per 1,000 inhabitantsCzechia502Poland: 493 per 1,000 inhabitantsPoland493Spain: 492 per 1,000 inhabitantsSpain492Greece: 482 per 1,000 inhabitantsGreece482Netherlands: 481 per 1,000 inhabitantsNetherlands481Sweden: 477 per 1,000 inhabitantsSweden477Portugal: 469 per 1,000 inhabitantsPortugal469Bulgaria: 459 per 1,000 inhabitantsBulgaria459Lithuania: 454 per 1,000 inhabitantsLithuania454Ireland: 438 per 1,000 inhabitantsIreland438Denmark: 429 per 1,000 inhabitantsDenmark429Slovakia: 390 per 1,000 inhabitantsSlovakia390Croatia: 381 per 1,000 inhabitantsCroatia381Latvia: 341 per 1,000 inhabitantsLatvia341Hungary: 340 per 1,000 inhabitantsHungary340Romania: 279 per 1,000 inhabitantsRomania279
per 1,000 inhabitants. Source: Eurostat, Passenger cars per thousand inhabitants (road_eqs_carhab). Retrieved 2026-10-18.

Full ranking

RankEU countries2016
per 1,000 inhabitants		Change on 2015
1Luxembourg Series break662+1 pts
2Italy631+10 pts
3Malta616+4 pts
4Finland604+14 pts
5Cyprus584+19 pts
6France564+6 pts
7Germany555+7 pts
8Austria550+4 pts
9Estonia534+20 pts
10Slovenia531+8 pts
11Belgium505+4 pts
12Czechia502+17 pts
13Poland Estimated493+19 pts
14Spain492+10 pts
15Greece482+6 pts
16Netherlands481+4 pts
17Sweden477+3 pts
18Portugal469+13 pts
19Bulgaria459+3 pts
20Lithuania454+24 pts
21Ireland438+2 pts
22Denmark429+10 pts
23Slovakia390+15 pts
24Croatia381+18 pts
25Latvia341-4 pts
26Hungary340+13 pts
27Romania279+18 pts

Other periods

About this ranking

Passenger cars on the national vehicle register at the end of the year, per 1,000 people living in the country. A passenger car is a motor vehicle built mainly to carry people, with at most nine seats including the driver.

Calculated by Eurostat from the car stock that national registers report and the population. Registers differ in how they remove scrapped or exported cars, so some countries count cars that are no longer on the road, and a register update can move the rate sharply in one year (Lithuania went from 614 in 2013 to 412 in 2014). The EU figure starts in 2000 and is published for some years only.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the EU countries are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

Eurostat. Passenger cars per thousand inhabitants (road_eqs_carhab). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/road_eqs_carhab/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-18.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

Eurostat, European Commission. (2026). Passenger cars per thousand inhabitants (road_eqs_carhab) (EU countries by passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants, 2016) [Data set]. Retrieved October 18, 2026, from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/road_eqs_carhab/default/table

MLA 9

Passenger cars per thousand inhabitants (road_eqs_carhab), EU countries by passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants, 2016. Eurostat, European Commission, 6 Oct. 2026, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/road_eqs_carhab/default/table. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/passenger-cars-per-1000-inhabitants/eu-countries?period=2016. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Eurostat, European Commission. 2026. Passenger cars per thousand inhabitants (road_eqs_carhab). EU countries by passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants, 2016. Dataset. Accessed October 18, 2026. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/road_eqs_carhab/default/table. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/passenger-cars-per-1000-inhabitants/eu-countries?period=2016.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2026) Passenger cars per thousand inhabitants (road_eqs_carhab), EU countries by passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants, 2016 [Dataset]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/road_eqs_carhab/default/table, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/passenger-cars-per-1000-inhabitants/eu-countries?period=2016 (Accessed: 18 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_passenger_2016,
  author = {{Eurostat, European Commission}},
  title = {{Passenger cars per thousand inhabitants (road\_eqs\_carhab): EU countries by passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants, 2016}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/road_eqs_carhab/default/table},
  urldate = {2026-10-18},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/passenger-cars-per-1000-inhabitants/eu-countries?period=2016. Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Passenger cars per thousand inhabitants (road\_eqs\_carhab). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/road\_eqs\_carhab/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-18.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - Eurostat, European Commission
TI  - Passenger cars per thousand inhabitants (road_eqs_carhab): EU countries by passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants, 2016
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/06
PB  - Eurostat, European Commission
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/road_eqs_carhab/default/table
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/passenger-cars-per-1000-inhabitants/eu-countries?period=2016
Y2  - 2026/10/18
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/passenger-cars-per-1000-inhabitants/eu-countries?period=2016.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Passenger cars per thousand inhabitants (road_eqs_carhab). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/road_eqs_carhab/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-18.
ER  -
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Questions

Which EU country has the highest passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants?

Luxembourg, with 662 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2016, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants?

Romania, with 279 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2016.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: Eurostat, European Commission, Passenger cars per thousand inhabitants (road_eqs_carhab). Retrieved 2026-10-18.

EU countries: more rankings