In 2022, the average number of passenger cars per 1 000 inhabitants in the EU was 560. During the decade 2012-2022, the average number increased by 14.3% (from 490 to 560 passenger cars per 1 000 inhabitants).
Italy had the highest number with 684 passenger cars per 1 000 inhabitants and it was followed by Luxembourg (678), Finland (661), and Cyprus (658). Meanwhile, Latvia had the lowest rate with 414 passenger cars per 1 000 inhabitants, followed by Romania (417), and Hungary (424).
Data show that central and eastern EU countries recorded high growth rates between 2012 and 2022. Among the EU countries, Romania registered the highest growth of passenger cars per 1 000 inhabitants (+86.2%; +193), followed by Croatia (+44.8%; +152), Hungary (+40.9%; +123), Slovakia (+40.1%; +135) and Estonia (+39.7%; +181).
Most of Europe’s city road networks were built before the automobile was common. If you look at some of the older cities in the US on the East Coast, you’ll also see narrower streets and less visibility at corners. But most of the roads in US cities are pretty young.
Once you have a layout oriented towards horse and foot traffic, it’s not easy to retrofit it in the way that it is say, with adding electricity to a city when that came along. Can’t just go through and expand the city roads without smacking into buildings.
Using mass transit along a select set of roads and then walking the last mile is less-disruptive to the existing layout, so it’s a reasonable way to deal with older road layouts.
You add a good point that explains a difference I didn’t exactly consider. I talked about how pedestrian-hostile US cities are but never really considered why European cities are friendlier. Duh, the cities largely existed before the cars did. Horses and carriages aren’t far off in size, but their speed is a fraction of the automobile. Funny, because I’m well aware that European cars are tiny because they have to take roads originally sized to beasts’ asses while Americans can make u-turns on the average suburban stroad
Also, Europe is shifting towards having more cars.
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/ddn-20240117-1
Most of Europe’s city road networks were built before the automobile was common. If you look at some of the older cities in the US on the East Coast, you’ll also see narrower streets and less visibility at corners. But most of the roads in US cities are pretty young.
Once you have a layout oriented towards horse and foot traffic, it’s not easy to retrofit it in the way that it is say, with adding electricity to a city when that came along. Can’t just go through and expand the city roads without smacking into buildings.
Using mass transit along a select set of roads and then walking the last mile is less-disruptive to the existing layout, so it’s a reasonable way to deal with older road layouts.
You add a good point that explains a difference I didn’t exactly consider. I talked about how pedestrian-hostile US cities are but never really considered why European cities are friendlier. Duh, the cities largely existed before the cars did. Horses and carriages aren’t far off in size, but their speed is a fraction of the automobile. Funny, because I’m well aware that European cars are tiny because they have to take roads originally sized to beasts’ asses while Americans can make u-turns on the average suburban stroad