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 2018, at 676 per 1,000 inhabitants. Romania had the lowest, at 332 per 1,000 inhabitants. The median was 511 per 1,000 inhabitants and the figure for the European Union (27) was 539 per 1,000 inhabitants. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

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Highest676Luxembourg
Lowest332Romania
Median51127 EU countries
European Union (27)539History

Map of EU countries, 2018

Austria: 562 per 1,000 inhabitantsBelgium: 511 per 1,000 inhabitantsBulgaria: 416 per 1,000 inhabitantsCyprus: 619 per 1,000 inhabitantsCzechia: 540 per 1,000 inhabitantsGermany: 567 per 1,000 inhabitantsDenmark: 447 per 1,000 inhabitantsEstonia: 563 per 1,000 inhabitantsSpain: 539 per 1,000 inhabitantsFinland: 629 per 1,000 inhabitantsFrance: 568 per 1,000 inhabitantsGreece: 497 per 1,000 inhabitantsCroatia: 420 per 1,000 inhabitantsHungary: 375 per 1,000 inhabitantsIreland: 442 per 1,000 inhabitantsItaly: 652 per 1,000 inhabitantsLithuania: 509 per 1,000 inhabitantsLuxembourg: 676 per 1,000 inhabitantsLatvia: 369 per 1,000 inhabitantsMalta: 609 per 1,000 inhabitantsNetherlands: 489 per 1,000 inhabitantsPoland: 524 per 1,000 inhabitantsPortugal: 511 per 1,000 inhabitantsRomania: 332 per 1,000 inhabitantsSweden: 476 per 1,000 inhabitantsSlovenia: 549 per 1,000 inhabitantsSlovakia: 426 per 1,000 inhabitants
  • Under 430
  • 430 to 500
  • 500 to 540
  • 540 to 570
  • 570 and over
per 1,000 inhabitants, 2018. Source: Eurostat, Passenger cars per thousand inhabitants (road_eqs_carhab). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2018

Luxembourg: 676 per 1,000 inhabitantsLuxembourg676Italy: 652 per 1,000 inhabitantsItaly652Finland: 629 per 1,000 inhabitantsFinland629Cyprus: 619 per 1,000 inhabitantsCyprus619Malta: 609 per 1,000 inhabitantsMalta609France: 568 per 1,000 inhabitantsFrance568Germany: 567 per 1,000 inhabitantsGermany567Estonia: 563 per 1,000 inhabitantsEstonia563Austria: 562 per 1,000 inhabitantsAustria562Slovenia: 549 per 1,000 inhabitantsSlovenia549Czechia: 540 per 1,000 inhabitantsCzechia540Spain: 539 per 1,000 inhabitantsSpain539Poland: 524 per 1,000 inhabitantsPoland524Belgium: 511 per 1,000 inhabitantsBelgium511Portugal: 511 per 1,000 inhabitantsPortugal511Lithuania: 509 per 1,000 inhabitantsLithuania509Greece: 497 per 1,000 inhabitantsGreece497Netherlands: 489 per 1,000 inhabitantsNetherlands489Sweden: 476 per 1,000 inhabitantsSweden476Denmark: 447 per 1,000 inhabitantsDenmark447Ireland: 442 per 1,000 inhabitantsIreland442Slovakia: 426 per 1,000 inhabitantsSlovakia426Croatia: 420 per 1,000 inhabitantsCroatia420Bulgaria: 416 per 1,000 inhabitantsBulgaria416Hungary: 375 per 1,000 inhabitantsHungary375Latvia: 369 per 1,000 inhabitantsLatvia369Romania: 332 per 1,000 inhabitantsRomania332Luxembourg: 676 per 1,000 inhabitantsLuxembourg676Italy: 652 per 1,000 inhabitantsItaly652Finland: 629 per 1,000 inhabitantsFinland629Cyprus: 619 per 1,000 inhabitantsCyprus619Malta: 609 per 1,000 inhabitantsMalta609France: 568 per 1,000 inhabitantsFrance568Germany: 567 per 1,000 inhabitantsGermany567Estonia: 563 per 1,000 inhabitantsEstonia563Austria: 562 per 1,000 inhabitantsAustria562Slovenia: 549 per 1,000 inhabitantsSlovenia549Czechia: 540 per 1,000 inhabitantsCzechia540Spain: 539 per 1,000 inhabitantsSpain539Poland: 524 per 1,000 inhabitantsPoland524Belgium: 511 per 1,000 inhabitantsBelgium511Portugal: 511 per 1,000 inhabitantsPortugal511Lithuania: 509 per 1,000 inhabitantsLithuania509Greece: 497 per 1,000 inhabitantsGreece497Netherlands: 489 per 1,000 inhabitantsNetherlands489Sweden: 476 per 1,000 inhabitantsSweden476Denmark: 447 per 1,000 inhabitantsDenmark447Ireland: 442 per 1,000 inhabitantsIreland442Slovakia: 426 per 1,000 inhabitantsSlovakia426Croatia: 420 per 1,000 inhabitantsCroatia420Bulgaria: 416 per 1,000 inhabitantsBulgaria416Hungary: 375 per 1,000 inhabitantsHungary375Latvia: 369 per 1,000 inhabitantsLatvia369Romania: 332 per 1,000 inhabitantsRomania332
per 1,000 inhabitants. Source: Eurostat, Passenger cars per thousand inhabitants (road_eqs_carhab). Retrieved 2026-10-18.

Full ranking

RankEU countries2018
per 1,000 inhabitants		Change on 2017
1Luxembourg676+6 pts
2Italy652+9 pts
3Finland629+12 pts
4Cyprus619+20 pts
5Malta609-6 pts
6France568-1 pts
7Germany567+6 pts
8Estonia563+13 pts
9Austria562+7 pts
10Slovenia549+8 pts
11Czechia540+18 pts
12Spain539+10 pts
13Poland524+17 pts
14Belgium511+2 pts
14Portugal511+21 pts
16Lithuania509+29 pts
17Greece497+6 pts
18Netherlands489+2 pts
19Sweden476-3 pts
20Denmark447+9 pts
21Ireland442+1 pts
22Slovakia426+18 pts
23Croatia420+22 pts
24Bulgaria416+6 pts
25Hungary375+18 pts
26Latvia369+13 pts
27Romania332+25 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, 2018) [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, 2018. 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=2018. 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, 2018. 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=2018.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2026) Passenger cars per thousand inhabitants (road_eqs_carhab), EU countries by passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants, 2018 [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=2018 (Accessed: 18 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_passenger_2018,
  author = {{Eurostat, European Commission}},
  title = {{Passenger cars per thousand inhabitants (road\_eqs\_carhab): EU countries by passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants, 2018}},
  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=2018. 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, 2018
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=2018
Y2  - 2026/10/18
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/passenger-cars-per-1000-inhabitants/eu-countries?period=2018.
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 676 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2018, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

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

Romania, with 332 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2018.

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