Motor Vehicle - Ownership Trends

Ownership Trends

See also: List of countries by vehicles per capita

The U.S. publisher Ward's, estimate that as of 2010 there were 1.015 billion motor vehicles in use in the world. This figure represents the number of cars; light, medium and heavy duty trucks; and buses, but does not include off-road vehicles or heavy construction equipment. They state that the world vehicle population passed the 500 million-unit mark in 1986, and 250 million motor vehicles in 1970. Between 1970 and 1950, the vehicle population doubled roughly every 10 years. Two U.S. researchers estimate that the world's fleet will reach 2 billion motor vehicles by 2020, with cars representing at leas 50% of all vehicles. China’s and India’s automobile fleets are expected to grow at an annual rate of around 7 or 8%, while the slowest growth is expected in the United States, with less than 1% a year, and Western Europe, with 1 to 2%.

Global vehicle ownership in 2010 was 148 vehicles in operation per 1000 inhabitants, a ratio of 1:6.75 vehicles to people, slightly down from 150 vehicles per 1000 inhabitants in 2009, a rate of 1:6.63 vehicles to people. In developing countries vehicle ownership rates in cities rarely exceed 200 cars per 1,000 population.

The following table summarizes the evolution of vehicle registrations in the world from 1960 to 2010:

Historical trend of worldwide vehicle registrations
1960-2010 (thousands)
Type of vehicle 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2005 2009 2010
Car registrations(1) 98,305 193,479 320,390 444,900 548,558 617,914 684,570 707,764
Truck and bus registrations 28,583 52,899 90,592 138,082 203,272 245,798 295,115 307,497
World total 126,888 246,378 410,982 582,982 751,830 863,712 979,685 1,015,261

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