As of 2010, world’s vehicle population tops 1 billion

As of 2010, the number of operational vehicles worldwide passed 1 billion units. Wards research complied the data on the history of population trends for vehicles and government reported registrations for its findings. In 2009, worldwide registration was at 980 million before it hit 2010’s 1.015 billion mark this past year. Included in the figures are cars, light, medium and heavy duty trucks, and buses, however off road and heavy duty vehicles were excluded from the compilation.

The increase in vehicle populations is up 3.6 percent globally, with a 35.6 million year to year unit increase, which accounts for the second largest overall increase.

China’s drastic increase of 27% makes up half of the overall increase. The number of vehicles operational there is up by 16.8 million, totaling 78 million. China is also second in total number of vehicles, and has more than Japan’s 73.9 million units for the first time.

India has seen the most growth in it’s automobile population, at 20.8 million, versus the 2009 figure of 19.1 million, an 8.9% increase. Brazil has the second biggest volume increase in 2010. The U.S. has seen the smallest increase at less than 1%, yet its 239.8 million vehicle population still keeps it at the largest in the world.

The ratio of vehicles to people, globally, is 1:6.75 out of an overall population of 6.9 billion. Holding the highest ratio in the world is the U.S.’s 310 million population, at 1:1.3. Italy is second at 1:1.45, and the UK, France, and Japan are all around 1:1.7. China’s 1.3 billion population has a ration of 1:17.2, and India, with the second largest population in the world, at over 1.17 billion people, has a ration of 1:56.3.

For comparison purposes, in 1986, the global vehicle population hit the 500 million unit mark.

– By: Alexandra Koken

Source: WardsAuto