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Fact #285: September 15, 2003
Vehicles per Thousand People:
An International Comparison

The line on this graph shows the trend of vehicles per thousand people for the United States from 1900 to 2001. The symbols on the graph show the vehicles per thousand people for other countries or regions around the world in 2001 only. Canada in 2001 had about the same ratio of vehicles to people as the United States did in 1972, and Western Europe had about the same ratio as the United States did in 1969. On the other end of the scale, China had about the same ratio of vehicles per thousand people in 2001 as the United States had in 1913, and Africa had about the same ratio as the United States did in 1915.

Graph: Comparison of Trend of  Vehicles per Thousand People for Different Regions of the World from 1900 to 2001

Supporting Information

Vehicles per Thousand Persons
Year United
States
Africa, 2001 Central & South America, 2001 Asia, 2001 China, 2001 Middle East, 2001 Eastern Europe, 2001 Western Europe, 2001 Pacific, 2001 Canada, 2001
1900 0.11                  
1901 0.19                  
1902 0.29                  
1903 0.41                  
1904 0.67                  
1905 0.94                  
1906 1.27                  
1907 1.65                  
1908 2.24                  
1909 3.45                  
1910 5.07                  
1911 6.81                  
1912 9.90                  
1913 12.94         11.31        
1914 17.79                  
1915 24.77 22.42                
1916 35.48     38.62            
1917 49.57                  
1918 59.69                  
1919 72.50                  
1920 86.78         89.83        
1921 96.68                  
1922 111.53   ���� 109.92              
1923 134.90                  
1924 154.35                  
1925 173.26                  
1926 189.10                  
1927 195.77                  
1928 204.87                  
1929 219.31                  
1930 217.34                  
1931 210.37                  
1932 195.38                  
1933 192.38                  
1934 199.90                  
1935 208.61                  
1936 222.62                  
1937 233.33                  
1938 229.65                  
1939 236.93                  
1940 245.63                  
1941 261.57           205.92      
1942 244.73                  
1943 225.89                  
1944 220.23                  
1945 221.80                  
1946 243.11                  
1947 262.56                  
1948 280.20                  
1949 299.56                  
1950 322.86                  
1951 335.19                  
1952 338.06                  
1953 350.95                  
1954 358.87                  
1955 377.80                  
1956 385.71                  
1957 390.30                  
1958 390.53                  
1959 401.25                  
1960 408.80                  
1961 413.53                  
1962 424.31                  
1963 436.99                  
1964 449.81               445.56  
1965 465.03                  
1966 486.89                  
1967 497.50                  
1968 513.12                  
1969 529.97             532.73    
1970 542.51                  
1971 560.19                  
1972 583.89                 573.38
1973 613.59                  
1974 630.80                  
1975 638.56                  
1976 658.04                  
1977 667.57                  
1978 688.65                  
1979 698.90                  
1980 710.71                  
1981 715.22                  
1982 713.95                  
1983 724.30                  
1984 728.20                  
1985 744.50                  
1986 753.33                  
1987 758.58                  
1988 772.92                  
1989 776.99                  
1990 773.40                  
1991 760.19                  
1992 757.96                  
1993 761.94                  
1994 766.94                  
1995 770.99                  
1996 781.16                  
1997 776.02                  
1998 781.20                  
1999 790.07                  
2000 802.43                  
2001 834.14                  

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