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

EU countries by passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants

Italy had the highest passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants of 27 EU countries in 2023, at 694 per 1,000 inhabitants. Latvia had the lowest, at 416 per 1,000 inhabitants. The median was 566 per 1,000 inhabitants and the figure for the European Union (27) was 570 per 1,000 inhabitants. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

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Highest694Italy
Lowest416Latvia
Median56627 EU countries
European Union (27)570History

Map of EU countries, 2023

Austria: 566 per 1,000 inhabitantsBelgium: 512 per 1,000 inhabitantsBulgaria: 466 per 1,000 inhabitantsCyprus: 647 per 1,000 inhabitantsCzechia: 597 per 1,000 inhabitantsGermany: 588 per 1,000 inhabitantsDenmark: 474 per 1,000 inhabitantsEstonia: 630 per 1,000 inhabitantsSpain: 551 per 1,000 inhabitantsFinland: 664 per 1,000 inhabitantsFrance: 573 per 1,000 inhabitantsGreece: 566 per 1,000 inhabitantsCroatia: 495 per 1,000 inhabitantsHungary: 435 per 1,000 inhabitantsIreland: 449 per 1,000 inhabitantsItaly: 694 per 1,000 inhabitantsLithuania: 589 per 1,000 inhabitantsLuxembourg: 675 per 1,000 inhabitantsLatvia: 416 per 1,000 inhabitantsMalta: 575 per 1,000 inhabitantsNetherlands: 505 per 1,000 inhabitantsPoland: 595 per 1,000 inhabitantsPortugal: 522 per 1,000 inhabitantsRomania: 425 per 1,000 inhabitantsSweden: 472 per 1,000 inhabitantsSlovenia: 579 per 1,000 inhabitantsSlovakia: 487 per 1,000 inhabitants
  • Under 470
  • 470 to 520
  • 520 to 570
  • 570 to 600
  • 600 and over
per 1,000 inhabitants, 2023. Source: Eurostat, Passenger cars per thousand inhabitants (road_eqs_carhab). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2023

Italy: 694 per 1,000 inhabitantsItaly694Luxembourg: 675 per 1,000 inhabitantsLuxembourg675Finland: 664 per 1,000 inhabitantsFinland664Cyprus: 647 per 1,000 inhabitantsCyprus647Estonia: 630 per 1,000 inhabitantsEstonia630Czechia: 597 per 1,000 inhabitantsCzechia597Poland: 595 per 1,000 inhabitantsPoland595Lithuania: 589 per 1,000 inhabitantsLithuania589Germany: 588 per 1,000 inhabitantsGermany588Slovenia: 579 per 1,000 inhabitantsSlovenia579Malta: 575 per 1,000 inhabitantsMalta575France: 573 per 1,000 inhabitantsFrance573Austria: 566 per 1,000 inhabitantsAustria566Greece: 566 per 1,000 inhabitantsGreece566Spain: 551 per 1,000 inhabitantsSpain551Portugal: 522 per 1,000 inhabitantsPortugal522Belgium: 512 per 1,000 inhabitantsBelgium512Netherlands: 505 per 1,000 inhabitantsNetherlands505Croatia: 495 per 1,000 inhabitantsCroatia495Slovakia: 487 per 1,000 inhabitantsSlovakia487Denmark: 474 per 1,000 inhabitantsDenmark474Sweden: 472 per 1,000 inhabitantsSweden472Bulgaria: 466 per 1,000 inhabitantsBulgaria466Ireland: 449 per 1,000 inhabitantsIreland449Hungary: 435 per 1,000 inhabitantsHungary435Romania: 425 per 1,000 inhabitantsRomania425Latvia: 416 per 1,000 inhabitantsLatvia416Italy: 694 per 1,000 inhabitantsItaly694Luxembourg: 675 per 1,000 inhabitantsLuxembourg675Finland: 664 per 1,000 inhabitantsFinland664Cyprus: 647 per 1,000 inhabitantsCyprus647Estonia: 630 per 1,000 inhabitantsEstonia630Czechia: 597 per 1,000 inhabitantsCzechia597Poland: 595 per 1,000 inhabitantsPoland595Lithuania: 589 per 1,000 inhabitantsLithuania589Germany: 588 per 1,000 inhabitantsGermany588Slovenia: 579 per 1,000 inhabitantsSlovenia579Malta: 575 per 1,000 inhabitantsMalta575France: 573 per 1,000 inhabitantsFrance573Austria: 566 per 1,000 inhabitantsAustria566Greece: 566 per 1,000 inhabitantsGreece566Spain: 551 per 1,000 inhabitantsSpain551Portugal: 522 per 1,000 inhabitantsPortugal522Belgium: 512 per 1,000 inhabitantsBelgium512Netherlands: 505 per 1,000 inhabitantsNetherlands505Croatia: 495 per 1,000 inhabitantsCroatia495Slovakia: 487 per 1,000 inhabitantsSlovakia487Denmark: 474 per 1,000 inhabitantsDenmark474Sweden: 472 per 1,000 inhabitantsSweden472Bulgaria: 466 per 1,000 inhabitantsBulgaria466Ireland: 449 per 1,000 inhabitantsIreland449Hungary: 435 per 1,000 inhabitantsHungary435Romania: 425 per 1,000 inhabitantsRomania425Latvia: 416 per 1,000 inhabitantsLatvia416
per 1,000 inhabitants. Source: Eurostat, Passenger cars per thousand inhabitants (road_eqs_carhab). Retrieved 2026-10-18.

Full ranking

RankEU countries2023
per 1,000 inhabitants		Change on 2022
1Italy694+12 pts
2Luxembourg675+2 pts
3Finland664+4 pts
4Cyprus647+14 pts
5Estonia630+8 pts
6Czechia597+15 pts
7Poland595+11 pts
8Lithuania589+11 pts
9Germany588+1 pts
10Slovenia579+8 pts
11Malta575-10 pts
12France Provisional573+4 pts
13Austria5660 pts
13Greece566+16 pts
15Spain551-2 pts
16Portugal522-7 pts
17Belgium512+5 pts
18Netherlands505+4 pts
19Croatia495+17 pts
20Slovakia487+16 pts
21Denmark474+2 pts
22Sweden472-1 pts
23Bulgaria466+17 pts
24Ireland449+6 pts
25Hungary435+9 pts
26Romania Estimated425+12 pts
27Latvia416+10 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, 2023) [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, 2023. 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=2023. 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, 2023. 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=2023.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2026) Passenger cars per thousand inhabitants (road_eqs_carhab), EU countries by passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants, 2023 [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=2023 (Accessed: 18 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_passenger_2023,
  author = {{Eurostat, European Commission}},
  title = {{Passenger cars per thousand inhabitants (road\_eqs\_carhab): EU countries by passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants, 2023}},
  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=2023. 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, 2023
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=2023
Y2  - 2026/10/18
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/passenger-cars-per-1000-inhabitants/eu-countries?period=2023.
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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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

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Questions

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

Italy, with 694 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2023, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

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

Latvia, with 416 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2023.

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