Fact #360: February 21, 2005
Vehicles per Thousand People:United States Compared with Other Countries

The line on this graph shows the total vehicles per thousand people in the United States from 1900 to 2002. The symbols show the 2002 vehicles per thousand people in other countries and regions of the world. This shows that the Western European nations had the same ratio of vehicles to people in 2002 as the United States did in 1984. Eastern European nations in 2002 had the same ratio of vehicles to people as the United States did in 1936; and China in 2002 had the same ratio of people to vehicles as the United States did in 1913.

Supporting Information

2002 Vehicle-to-People Ratio
for Other Countries

	Vehicles per Thousand People
Africa	20.8
Central and South America	111.5
Asia, Far East	40.4
Asia, Middle East	82.7
China	12.0
Europe, East	214.7
Europe, West	730.2
Pacific	478.9
Canada	579.7

 

Vehicle-to-People Ratio for the United States

Year	Vehicles per Thousand People		Year	Vehicles per Thousand People
1900	0		1952	338
1901	0		1953	351
1902	0		1954	359
1903	0		1955	378
1904	1		1956	386
1905	1		1957	390
1906	1		1958	391
1907	2		1959	401
1908	2		1960	409
1909	3		1961	414
1910	5		1962	424
1911	7		1963	437
1912	10		1964	450
1913	13		1965	465
1914	18		1966	487
1915	25		1967	497
1916	35		1968	513
1917	50		1969	530
1918	60		1970	543
1919	72		1971	560
1920	87		1972	584
1921	97		1973	614
1922	112		1974	631
1923	135		1975	639
1924	154		1976	658
1925	173		1977	668
1926	189		1978	689
1927	196		1979	699
1928	205		1980	711
1929	219		1981	715
1930	217		1982	714
1931	210		1983	724
1932	195		1984	728
1933	192		1985	744
1934	200		1986	753
1935	209		1987	759
1936	223		1988	773
1937	233		1989	777
1938	230		1990	773
1939	237		1991	760
1940	246		1992	758
1941	262		1993	762
1942	245		1994	767
1943	226		1995	771
1944	220		1996	781
1945	222		1997	776
1946	243		1998	781
1947	263		1999	790
1948	280		2000	800
1949	300		2001	825
1950	323		2002	815
1951	335
Source: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Transportation Energy Data Book: Edition 24, Figure 3.1

 

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