World’s vehicle population tops 1 billion

The world’s garage has passed one billion vehicles for the first time according research carried out by Wards Auto. The figures are based on 2010 data and tell us the United States heads the list when sorted by country, with a staggering 239.8 million motor vehicles.

The US numbers are put in perspective when compared against the emerging market of China, which has achieved its highest ranking, reaching second place but still a long way behind, with a bit over 78 million units. Japan sits third with just under 74 million vehicles.

Unsurprisingly the United States also tops the list when looking at each country’s vehicle-to-person ratio. With a ratio of 1:1.3, in theory, around 77% of Americans have a vehicle of some sort. In contrast, China’s ratio is 1:17.2 and India (20.8 million vehicles) sees just one in every 56.3 people with a vehicle.

Italy is ranked second behind the US for vehicle-to-person ratios (1:1.45) with France, Japan and the UK all roughly the same (1:1.7). Overall, the world population is 6.9 billion (1:6.75 vehicles to people).

[Source: WardsAuto]

UPDATE 20 August: Thanks to Jim Rutherford from the FCAI for pointing us in the direction of Australian figures from the ABS, which tell us there were 12.5 million passenger vehicles at last count. Based on the current population of 22.7 million Australia has a ratio of one vehicle for every 1.8 people.