What colour is our car?

On 1 January 2022, one-third (3.0 million cars) of the 8.9 million passenger cars in the Netherlands were grey. Another one-third was made up of 2.1 million black and 1.2 million blue cars. Not only the cars, but also their owners have turned grey in recent years.

Greying

Grey has been the most common car colour for eighteen years, but in 2000 grey was still number three, after red and blue. Back then, there were 1.1 million grey cars, making up 18 percent of all cars. By the beginning of 2022, grey had taken over the passenger car fleet with 34 percent of all cars being grey. The colours red and green are increasingly rare. Red plummeted from first place in 2000 (with 22 percent red cars) to fifth in 2022 with only 6 percent. The share of green cars dropped from 14 percent to 3 percent during that period.

Show datatableCar colours (Ranking by number)Hide datatableCar colours (Ranking by number)

Car colours (Ranking by number)

	Beige	Blue	Brown	Cream	Yellow	Grey	Green	Orange	Purple	Red	Pink	White	Black	Other colours
2000	7	2	8	13	9	3	4	11	10	1	14	5	6	12
2001	7	1	9	13	8	3	4	11	10	2	14	6	5	12
2002*
2003	7	1	10	13	8	2	4	11	9	3	14	6	5	12
2004	8	1	10	13	7	2	4	11	9	3	14	6	5	12
2005	8	2	10	13	7	1	5	11	9	3	14	6	4	12
2006	8	2	10	13	7	1	5	11	9	3	14	6	4	12
2007	8	2	10	13	7	1	5	11	9	4	14	6	3	12
2008	8	2	10	13	7	1	5	11	9	4	14	6	3	12
2009	7	2	10	13	8	1	5	11	9	4	14	6	3	12
2010	7	2	9	13	8	1	5	11	10	4	14	6	3	12
2011	7	2	9	13	8	1	5	11	10	4	14	6	3	12
2012	7	3	9	13	8	1	5	11	10	4	14	6	2	12
2013	7	3	8	13	9	1	5	11	10	4	14	6	2	12
2014	8	3	7	13	9	1	5	11	10	4	14	6	2	12
2015	8	3	7	13	9	1	6	11	10	4	14	5	2	12
2016	8	3	7	13	9	1	6	10	11	5	14	4	2	12
2017	8	3	7	13	9	1	6	10	11	5	14	4	2	12
2018	8	3	7	13	9	1	6	10	11	5	14	4	2	12
2019	8	3	7	13	9	1	6	10	11	5	14	4	2	12
2020	8	3	7	13	9	1	6	10	11	5	14	4	2	12
2021	8	3	7	13	9	1	6	10	11	5	14	4	2	12
2022	8	3	7	13	9	1	6	10	11	5	14	4	2	12
* No figures available for 2002.

Also more ‘grey’ car owners

Most passenger cars (9 in 10) are owned by private citizens. Those car owners are increasingly older, with the average age climbing from 46 in 2000 to 52 in early 2022.

More and more cars are owned by older people. The number of passenger cars owned by over-65s in 2022 was 2 million, tripling from 2000. Over the same period, the number of cars owned by those aged 85 and over increased sixfold to 115 thousand.

Older people tend to have grey cars comparatively more often. By early 2022, 39 percent of cars owned by people aged 65 and over and 32 percent of those owned by people younger than 64 were grey.

Show datatablePrivate car owner's age, 1 January (million)Hide datatablePrivate car owner's age, 1 January (million)

Private car owner's age, 1 January (million)

Onderwerp	18-29 yrs	30-49 yrs	50-64 yrs	65 yrs and over
2000	0.79	2.65	1.46	0.75
2001	0.77	2.71	1.52	0.78
2002	0.77	2.77	1.58	0.81
2003	0.76	2.82	1.65	0.84
2004	0.75	2.83	1.70	0.87
2005	0.74	2.82	1.75	0.91
2006	0.72	2.82	1.80	0.95
2007	0.72	2.83	1.86	0.99
2008	0.73	2.82	1.92	1.04
2009	0.74	2.81	1.98	1.10
2010	0.75	2.80	2.04	1.16
2011	0.76	2.80	2.10	1.22
2012	0.76	2.78	2.14	1.31
2013	0.74	2.74	2.16	1.40
2014	0.73	2.67	2.19	1.47
2015	0.71	2.62	2.23	1.54
2016	0.72	2.59	2.27	1.61
2017	0.73	2.58	2.32	1.67
2018	0.75	2.57	2.37	1.73
2019	0.75	2.57	2.42	1.80
2020	0.76	2.55	2.48	1.86
2021	0.78	2.55	2.54	1.92
2022	0.79	2.56	2.60	1.98

Cars getting older on average

The average age of passenger cars has increased from 7 years in 2000 to 11 years in 2022. At the beginning of 2022, the Netherlands had nearly 2.3 million passenger cars aged 15 years or older, against nearly 400 thousand at the beginning of 2000. During the same period, the number of young cars actually declined. In 2022, there were 1.2 million passenger cars that were under 3 years old, versus 1.6 million in 2000.

Show datatablePassenger car fleet by age, 1 January (million)Hide datatablePassenger car fleet by age, 1 January (million)

Passenger car fleet by age, 1 January (million)

Jaar	Under 3 yrs	3-6 yrs	7-14 yrs	15 yrs and over
2000	1.58	1.60	2.77	0.39
2001	1.69	1.70	2.71	0.44
2002	1.68	1.82	2.69	0.52
2003	1.58	1.98	2.68	0.61
2004	1.47	2.09	2.70	0.65
2005	1.44	2.13	2.72	0.70
2006	1.40	2.11	2.83	0.75
2007	1.40	2.01	3.01	0.82
2008	1.43	1.91	3.16	0.89
2009	1.46	1.86	3.28	0.94
2010	1.37	1.88	3.38	0.99
2011	1.36	1.89	3.43	1.06
2012	1.42	1.85	3.44	1.14
2013	1.53	1.73	3.43	1.22
2014	1.47	1.71	3.44	1.32
2015	1.32	1.81	3.37	1.48
2016	1.26	1.87	3.32	1.65
2017	1.24	1.95	3.26	1.77
2018	1.28	1.90	3.31	1.88
2019	1.28	1.84	3.44	1.97
2020	1.35	1.74	3.53	2.05
2021	1.31	1.77	3.56	2.15
2022	1.22	1.89	3.57	2.26

The questions

1. How does CBS collect data?
2. How much do we cycle per week on average?
3. Who are most likely to work part-time?
4. How many people visited Bonaire by cruise ship?
5. Are people happy with the house they live in?
6. How many young women encounter street harassment?
7. What do the over-65s do online?
8. How many wind turbines in the Netherlands?
9. How far is school by bike?
10. How many museums are there?
11. How much electricity in the Caribbean Netherlands is renewable?
12. How many adults are overweight?
13. How many cargo ships dock at Dutch seaports?
14. What did we listen to on the radio in 1953?
15. What is the average lifespan in the Netherlands?
16. Where did we go for a holiday in 1947?
17. How much fish is landed?
18. Where were people in the Netherlands born?
19. What do we spend money on?
20. How old are Dutch first-time mothers on average?
21. How much cheese do we produce?
22. How are goods transported through the Netherlands?
23. How many people fall victim to cybercrime?
24. What is the most spoken language or dialect at home?
25. How many shops are there?
26. What is the value of Dutch beer exports?
27. How often do we have a goosebump moment?
28. How many cows graze in fields?
29. What are the most popular majors?
30. How tall are Dutch people?
31. How is the urban bird population doing?
32. Where do most people work?
33. What colour is our car?
34. How does CBS handle your privacy?