How many cars are there?

In 1950, 121 thousand cars were registered in the Netherlands. Even before the Second World War, cars were becoming a popular means of getting around. In spite if this, cars were still considered quite special in 1950, when there were twelve cars per thousand inhabitants. Car numbers started to rise rapidly in the 1960s and 1970s, as more and more people had enough money to buy one.

Cars quickly became cheaper in the 1930s, and production was ramped up. In 1940, at the start of the Second World War, there were just over 98 thousand cars in the Netherlands. By the end of the war, fewer than 11 thousand of these remained. Things soon improved in the Netherlands after the war, and by 1950 the number of cars had risen to 151 thousand. The number topped one million for the first time in 1965. At the beginning of 2023, there were nearly 9 million cars in the Netherlands.

One car for every two people

As the population of the Netherlands also grew in this period, we calculate the number of cars per thousand people as well. In 1945 this was one car per thousand inhabitants. By 1950 this had grown to twelve cars: the number of cars grew much faster than the number of people in the Netherlands. And this continued to be the case: at the beginning of 2023, there were just over 500 cars per thousand inhabitants. This is the equivalent of one car for every two people in the country.

Show datatablePassenger cars per thousand inhabitantsHide datatablePassenger cars per thousand inhabitants

Passenger cars per thousand inhabitants

Jaar	Cars per thousand inhabitants
1927	5
1928	6
1929	7
1930	8
1931	9
1932	10
1933	10
1934	10
1935	11
1936	10
1937	10
1938	11
1939	11
1940	11
1941	2
1942	2
1943	1
1944	1
1945	1
1946	4
1947	6
1948	8
1949	10
1950	12
1951	14
1952	15
1953	17
1954	18
1955	22
1956	26
1957	31
1958	34
1959	37
1960	41
1961	47
1962	54
1963	63
1964	75
1965	90
1966	105
1967	121
1968	138
1969	157
1970	167
1971	185
1972	198
1973	210
1974	217
1975	227
1976	239
1977	255
1978	266
1979	279
1980	293
1981	300
1982	302
1983	306
1984	311
1985	315
1986	318
1987	329
1988	327
1989	335
1990	344
1991	347
1992	347
1993	351
1994	356
1995	362
1996	366
1997	373
1998	379
1999	388
2000	400
2001	409
2002	417
2003	423
2004	427
2005	429
2006	434
2007	442
2008	451
2009	458
2010	460
2011	464
2012	470
2013	472
2014	471
2015	472
2016	477
2017	481
2018	487
2019	489
2020	493
2021	497
2022	502

Local jobs

In the 1940s and 1950s people travelled to and from work by bicycle or moped. In 1947, 15 percent of people with a job worked outside the municipality in which they lived. After that, as more and more people owned a car, they also started to live further away from their place of work. In 1960, 27 percent of workers did not work in their municipality of residence. People also used their cars more often for holidays and day trips. The Netherlands witnessed its first traffic jam on Whitsunday 1955.

Cars most popular vehicles

The increase in the number of cars was larger than that for all other types of motor vehicle. In 1950 differences were not substantial: nearly 121 thousand cars, nearly 86 thousand motorcycles and nearly 6 thousand buses. At the beginning of 2023 this had completely changed: nearly 9 million cars, 700 thousand motorcycles and nearly 9 thousand buses.

Show datatableMotor vehicles (x 1,000)Hide datatableMotor vehicles (x 1,000)

Motor vehicles (x 1,000)

Jaar	Passenger cars	Vans	Tractive units for semi-trailers	Motorcycles	Lorries (excl. tractive units for semi-trailers)	Buses
1927	41.2	7.1	2.4	28.8	10.6	2.9
1928	47.7	8.8	2.5	28.0	13.2	3.1
1929	55.3	11.0	2.6	28.5	16.3	3.2
1930	63.2	13.4	2.7	30.4	19.9	3.4
1931	70.6	15.5	2.8	31.5	22.9	3.6
1932	77.3	16.9	2.9	32.4	24.9	3.7
1933	82.4	18.3	3.0	32.9	26.9	3.8
1934	86.6	17.4	3.3	43.7	25.5	3.8
1935	88.5	19.6	3.4	43.1	24.7	3.8
1936	87.6	20.2	3.4	42.6	23.5	3.8
1937	88.7	21.4	3.5	45.9	23.6	3.8
1938	90.9	21.8	3.6	51.0	23.9	3.9
1939	95.1	22.7	3.7	58.8	24.8	4.3
1940	98.2	23.3	3.7	65.2	25.3	4.4
1941	16.1	9.7	2.0	4.6	13.3	2.0
1942	15.2	10.2	1.8	4.1	12.2	1.8
1943	13.5	8.3	1.7	3.0	11.6	1.6
1944	12.2	7.5	1.5	1.9	10.1	0.8
1945	10.8	6.8	1.3	1.3	9.0	0.4
1946	37.1	15.8	2.1	37.7	16.9	1.9
1947	54.5	21.9	2.4	63.9	23.5	3.0
1948	73.8	26.9	2.8	71.6	29.2	4.5
1949	95.0	30.0	3.3	75.8	32.2	5.0
1950	120.5	33.5	3.4	85.5	35.3	5.6
1951	142.0	39.2	3.4	97.4	40.6	5.8
1952	158.4	42.5	3.5	107.4	38.8	5.9
1953	173.0	45.7	3.6	113.7	41.7	6.0
1954	194.2	49.1	3.7	120.2	40.9	6.0
1955	231.5	55.6	3.9	133.5	48.0	6.2
1956	282.4	61.7	4.3	148.7	46.8	6.7
1957	335.1	67.2	4.7	160.1	51.7	7.2
1958	380.1	71.0	5.0	167.6	52.0	7.5
1959	418.8	78.2	5.1	171.8	53.0	7.8
1960	464.4	77.8	5.2	168.4	52.0	8.2
1961	537.8	84.6	5.6	165.2	56.4	8.6
1962	634.7	94.6	6.1	160.1	58.4	8.7
1963	751.7	103.6	6.5	152.9	60.4	8.8
1964	903.4	113.8	7.1	146.7	64.7	8.8
1965	1094.9	126.2	7.8	146.5	69.6	8.9
1966	1303.2	137.0	8.3	140.7	73.2	9.0
1967	1515.0	144.0	9.0	121.2	76.1	9.1
1968	1744.7	150.4	10.0	108.9	78.5	9.0
1969	2012.1	157.3	10.5	97.5	81.0	8.7
1970	2163.0	164.9	10.9	81.1	82.8	8.5
1971	2426.0	170.6	12.3	63.9	85.6	8.4
1972	2632.7	177.0	13.8	55.4	87.6	8.6
1973	2809.5	183.7	14.7	52.0	89.7	8.6
1974	2928.0	189.9	15.7	55.5	91.5	8.9
1975	3092.5	195.2	16.8	61.8	92.8	9.2
1976	3285.7	194.1	18.3	65.5	91.0	9.2
1977	3518.0	188.0	18.0	71.0	87.0	8.4
1978	3703.0	183.0	19.0	80.0	86.0	8.7
1979	3906.0	190.0	19.0	89.0	84.0	9.0
1980	4123.0	204.0	21.0	94.0	82.0	9.3
1981	4263.0	210.0	22.0	101.0	81.0	9.8
1982	4321.0	217.0	22.0	111.0	79.0	10.0
1983	4385.0	223.0	22.0	116.0	77.0	10.5
1984	4471.0	231.0	23.0	119.0	77.0	10.6
1985	4551.0	249.0	24.0	121.0	79.0	10.6
1986	4616.0	276.0	26.0	121.0	79.0	10.5
1987	4676.0	305.0	28.0	123.0	80.0	10.5
1988	4806.0	339.0	30.0	127.0	81.0	10.7
1989	4967.0	363.0	31.0	132.0	83.0	11.0
1990	5118.0	385.0	33.0	143.0	84.0	11.4
1991	5205.0	407.0	36.0	159.0	84.0	11.7
1992	5247.0	430.0	38.0	190.0	85.0	11.9
1993	5341.0	469.0	40.0	234.0	85.0	11.8
1994	5456.0	492.0	40.0	270.0	84.0	11.5
1995	5581.0	495.0	41.0	294.0	83.0	11.2
1996	5664.0	501.0	45.0	315.0	83.0	11.3
1997	5810.0	525.0	47.0	354.1	84.0	11.2
1998	5931.0	567.0	49.0	373.4	82.0	10.8
1999	6120.0	628.0	53.0	392.5	82.0	11.0
2000	6343.2	696.1	56.8	414.0	83.2	11.2
2001	6539.0	755.8	59.8	437.8	83.4	11.4
2002	6710.6	797.6	62.0	460.8	82.7	11.3
2003	6854.9	835.7	62.9	494.3	81.7	11.4
2004	6908.9	866.8	63.4	516.4	79.4	11.3
2005	6992.0	893.5	64.5	536.9	77.6	11.2
2006	7092.3	863.0	65.6	552.9	75.9	11.0
2007	7230.2	849.3	70.5	567.9	75.8	10.8
2008	7391.9	862.3	72.8	585.2	75.3	11.1
2009	7542.3	876.2	74.6	605.6	75.1	11.3
2010	7622.4	872.4	71.6	623.4	73.4	11.6
2011	7735.5	861.3	71.3	636.2	71.4	11.3
2012	7858.7	849.7	71.5	647.0	69.5	11.0
2013	7915.6	832.1	70.4	653.2	67.1	10.5
2014	7932.3	815.2	71.1	654.0	65.0	9.9
2015	7979.1	815.0	70.5	652.3	63.4	9.6
2016	8100.9	828.4	72.2	652.5	62.4	9.4
2017	8223.0	852.6	74.2	656.0	62.2	9.8
2018	8373.2	883.4	77.1	661.6	62.6	9.9
2019	8443.0	903.0	78.8	646.0	61.7	9.5
2020	8584.4	927.3	80.1	654.4	61.7	9.7
2021	8686.4	945.4	79.9	666.6	60.8	9.1
2022	8827.7	974.8	82.4	677.8	60.9	8.5
2023	8917.1	989.8	85.7	690.7	60.8	8.8

The questions

1. What keeps people from eating healthier?
2. What is working people’s income?
3. How much of the energy we consume is renewable?
4. What percentage wears glasses?
5. How are the dragonflies and butterflies doing?
6. How many housing units are there?
7. How does home burglary affect people?
8. In what occupations do most people work from home?
9. How much more expensive did food get?
10. How many babies were born to unmarried mothers?
11. From which countries do most immigrants come?
12. How many centenarians are there?
13. How do fathers and mothers divide work and care?
14. How many cars are there?
15. How much milk does a cow produce?
16. What portion of income went to food in 1936?
17. How many pigs were there in 1910?
18. How many cattle and pigs in the Netherlands?
19. What do we import from China?
20. What type of shop is seen less and less?
21. How many nights are spent in Dutch hotels?
22. How often do older people have contact with neighbours?
23. How many adults comply with the physical activity guidelines?
24. Where do international students in the Netherlands come from?
25. What are the major religions?
26. How many litres of water do we use per day?
27. How many millionaires in the Netherlands?
28. How many inhabitants in the Netherlands??
29. Where can we ride our bikes?
30. At what age do workers retire?
31. Which day has the most birthdays?
32. How many people have a student debt?
33. How does CBS handle your privacy?