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 2021, at 682 per 1,000 inhabitants. Romania had the lowest, at 400 per 1,000 inhabitants. The median was 554 per 1,000 inhabitants and the figure for the European Union (27) was 561 per 1,000 inhabitants. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Keep it in a collection in your library.
Highest682Luxembourg
Lowest400Romania
Median55427 EU countries
European Union (27)561History

Map of EU countries, 2021

Austria: 572 per 1,000 inhabitantsBelgium: 510 per 1,000 inhabitantsBulgaria: 437 per 1,000 inhabitantsCyprus: 637 per 1,000 inhabitantsCzechia: 579 per 1,000 inhabitantsGermany: 583 per 1,000 inhabitantsDenmark: 475 per 1,000 inhabitantsEstonia: 620 per 1,000 inhabitantsSpain: 554 per 1,000 inhabitantsFinland: 656 per 1,000 inhabitantsFrance: 570 per 1,000 inhabitantsGreece: 536 per 1,000 inhabitantsCroatia: 465 per 1,000 inhabitantsHungary: 418 per 1,000 inhabitantsIreland: 448 per 1,000 inhabitantsItaly: 675 per 1,000 inhabitantsLithuania: 574 per 1,000 inhabitantsLuxembourg: 682 per 1,000 inhabitantsLatvia: 404 per 1,000 inhabitantsMalta: 602 per 1,000 inhabitantsNetherlands: 502 per 1,000 inhabitantsPoland: 579 per 1,000 inhabitantsPortugal: 531 per 1,000 inhabitantsRomania: 400 per 1,000 inhabitantsSweden: 477 per 1,000 inhabitantsSlovenia: 564 per 1,000 inhabitantsSlovakia: 459 per 1,000 inhabitants
  • Under 460
  • 460 to 520
  • 520 to 570
  • 570 to 600
  • 600 and over
per 1,000 inhabitants, 2021. Source: Eurostat, Passenger cars per thousand inhabitants (road_eqs_carhab). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2021

Luxembourg: 682 per 1,000 inhabitantsLuxembourg682Italy: 675 per 1,000 inhabitantsItaly675Finland: 656 per 1,000 inhabitantsFinland656Cyprus: 637 per 1,000 inhabitantsCyprus637Estonia: 620 per 1,000 inhabitantsEstonia620Malta: 602 per 1,000 inhabitantsMalta602Germany: 583 per 1,000 inhabitantsGermany583Czechia: 579 per 1,000 inhabitantsCzechia579Poland: 579 per 1,000 inhabitantsPoland579Lithuania: 574 per 1,000 inhabitantsLithuania574Austria: 572 per 1,000 inhabitantsAustria572France: 570 per 1,000 inhabitantsFrance570Slovenia: 564 per 1,000 inhabitantsSlovenia564Spain: 554 per 1,000 inhabitantsSpain554Greece: 536 per 1,000 inhabitantsGreece536Portugal: 531 per 1,000 inhabitantsPortugal531Belgium: 510 per 1,000 inhabitantsBelgium510Netherlands: 502 per 1,000 inhabitantsNetherlands502Sweden: 477 per 1,000 inhabitantsSweden477Denmark: 475 per 1,000 inhabitantsDenmark475Croatia: 465 per 1,000 inhabitantsCroatia465Slovakia: 459 per 1,000 inhabitantsSlovakia459Ireland: 448 per 1,000 inhabitantsIreland448Bulgaria: 437 per 1,000 inhabitantsBulgaria437Hungary: 418 per 1,000 inhabitantsHungary418Latvia: 404 per 1,000 inhabitantsLatvia404Romania: 400 per 1,000 inhabitantsRomania400Luxembourg: 682 per 1,000 inhabitantsLuxembourg682Italy: 675 per 1,000 inhabitantsItaly675Finland: 656 per 1,000 inhabitantsFinland656Cyprus: 637 per 1,000 inhabitantsCyprus637Estonia: 620 per 1,000 inhabitantsEstonia620Malta: 602 per 1,000 inhabitantsMalta602Germany: 583 per 1,000 inhabitantsGermany583Czechia: 579 per 1,000 inhabitantsCzechia579Poland: 579 per 1,000 inhabitantsPoland579Lithuania: 574 per 1,000 inhabitantsLithuania574Austria: 572 per 1,000 inhabitantsAustria572France: 570 per 1,000 inhabitantsFrance570Slovenia: 564 per 1,000 inhabitantsSlovenia564Spain: 554 per 1,000 inhabitantsSpain554Greece: 536 per 1,000 inhabitantsGreece536Portugal: 531 per 1,000 inhabitantsPortugal531Belgium: 510 per 1,000 inhabitantsBelgium510Netherlands: 502 per 1,000 inhabitantsNetherlands502Sweden: 477 per 1,000 inhabitantsSweden477Denmark: 475 per 1,000 inhabitantsDenmark475Croatia: 465 per 1,000 inhabitantsCroatia465Slovakia: 459 per 1,000 inhabitantsSlovakia459Ireland: 448 per 1,000 inhabitantsIreland448Bulgaria: 437 per 1,000 inhabitantsBulgaria437Hungary: 418 per 1,000 inhabitantsHungary418Latvia: 404 per 1,000 inhabitantsLatvia404Romania: 400 per 1,000 inhabitantsRomania400
per 1,000 inhabitants. Source: Eurostat, Passenger cars per thousand inhabitants (road_eqs_carhab). Retrieved 2026-10-18.

Full ranking

RankEU countries2021
per 1,000 inhabitants		Change on 2020
1Luxembourg6820 pts
2Italy675+4 pts
3Finland656+4 pts
4Cyprus637+5 pts
5Estonia620+12 pts
6Malta602+5 pts
7Germany583+3 pts
8Czechia579+3 pts
8Poland579+13 pts
10Lithuania574+17 pts
11Austria572+2 pts
12France570+2 pts
13Slovenia564+9 pts
14Spain554+5 pts
15Greece536+16 pts
16Portugal Series break531-4 pts
17Belgium5100 pts
18Netherlands502+5 pts
19Sweden477+1 pts
20Denmark475+9 pts
21Croatia465+16 pts
22Slovakia459+12 pts
23Ireland448-4 pts
24Bulgaria437-2 pts
25Hungary418+12 pts
26Latvia404+14 pts
27Romania Estimated400+21 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, 2021) [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, 2021. 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=2021. 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, 2021. 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=2021.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2026) Passenger cars per thousand inhabitants (road_eqs_carhab), EU countries by passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants, 2021 [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=2021 (Accessed: 18 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_passenger_2021,
  author = {{Eurostat, European Commission}},
  title = {{Passenger cars per thousand inhabitants (road\_eqs\_carhab): EU countries by passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants, 2021}},
  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=2021. 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, 2021
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=2021
Y2  - 2026/10/18
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/passenger-cars-per-1000-inhabitants/eu-countries?period=2021.
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  -
Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

Rank EU countries by passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"passenger_cars_per_1000","level":"country","within":"European Union (27)","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=passenger_cars_per_1000&level=country&within=European%20Union%20(27)&limit=10

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

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

Luxembourg, with 682 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2021, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

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

Romania, with 400 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2021.

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