Here's About How Many Cars Are There in The World in 2023 (2024)
They say money makes the world go round, but I have a sneaking suspicion that cars are actually doing the job. The number of vehicles on roads around the globe has skyrocketed over the past two decades despite a global pandemic and two recessions. So exactly how many cars are in the world?
Just 14 years ago, the number was estimated to be in the millions. Over that stretch of time, though, vehicle production has increased significantly, as has overall vehicle reliability. That has resulted in a lot more cars on the road, both new and old.
To put it simply, nobody has an exact car count for the entire globe, but a fair estimate can be made using data from automotive industry research firm Hedges & Company. The number of cars in the world is estimated to be around 1.47 billion vehicles.
You might think that the U.S. has the most cars in the world but that trophy actually goes to China, which is one of the largest automotive markets and producers. In fact, the country had around 415 million registered vehicles on the road as of 2022 and did a lot to help Asia win the crown for most vehicles on the road at 543 million.
Behind Asia is Europe, which houses 14 major automakers according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association. Europe has around 413 million cars on its roads, which surpasses North America's 358 million. And in case you were wondering, the U.S. makes up 78% of North America's car population.
The full list broken down by region is below:
Asia: 543 million
Europe: 413 million
North America: 358 million
South America: 84 million
Middle East: 50 million
Africa: 26 million
Antarctica: 50 (approximately)
Now that you know how many cars exist on earth, how about the concentration of cars to people?
There are approximately 8.1 billion people living on Earth today, so there's one car for every ~5.75 people. That means that there are enough cars on the road for just 17% of the world's population. However, that doesn't mean that 17% of people own a car—that count doesn't take into consideration people who own multiple cars, children, the elderly, and other people who don't drive for a myriad of other reasons.
Despite China having such a large number of vehicles on the road, its 415 million only provides enough vehicles for one out of every 3.5 people living in the country, which totals a population of 1.43 billion residents. The remaining residents of Asia, however, bring the overall concentration of vehicles down quite a bit. When accounting for the rest of the continent, there are only 140 vehicles per 1,000 residents.
North America has the highest concentration with 710 vehicles per 1,000 people. The U.S. had about 278 million registered cars as of 2021, and the country spreads that number across its 331.9 million residents. This accounts for roughly one car on the street for every 1.2 people living in the country, or nearly three times more crowded than China.
The full list of vehicle concentration by region is below:
North America: 710 vehicles per 1,000 people
Europe: 520 vehicles per 1,000 people
South America: 210 vehicles per 1,000 people
Middle East: 190 vehicles per 1,000 people
Asia: 140 vehicles per 1,000 people
Africa: 58 vehicles per 1,000 people
Antarctica: 50 vehicles per 1,000 people
Aerial view of a large junkyard containing numerous vehicles stored which are damaged from apparent collisions forming this interesting pattern. via Getty Images
The number of cars sold across the world is only increasing year over year and by a staggering amount. It's estimated that the number of cars on Earth today has increased by more than 56% since 2006. Despite the car market taking a global dip during COVID, it has already shown to be rebounding, even with high interest rates. If the trend keeps going in this direction, the number of vehicles could easily continue to climb over the next decade, perhaps crowning new list-toppers in both the number of cars and the concentration of car ownership.
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There are about 1.474 billion vehicles on Earth in 2023. About 19% of those vehicles are in the United States. Let's dig into more detail on how many cars are there in the world and other global automotive stats, including cars per capita.
Some 283.4 million vehicles were registered in the United States in 2022. The figures include passenger cars, motorcycles, trucks, buses, and other vehicles.
Industrywide sales of new cars in the U.S. reached 15.5 million vehicles in 2023, a 12.4% increase from the prior year, according to an estimate from research firm Wards Intelligence.
In 2024, the number of cars in the world has grown to 1.475 billion – that's one car for every 5.5 humans, or 182 per 1000 humans. The last time we checked, in May 2022, there was believed to be around 1.45 billion cars on Earth.
How many vehicles are in China? As of the end of June 2023, it is estimated that there are 420 million vehicles (including trucks) in China. Until 2020, the United States has held the top spot in terms of the number of vehicles, but China has now surpassed it and stands as the world's leader in the number of vehicles.
While there are less than 4.1 million publicly owned vehicles, there are more than 272.4 million privately owned vehicles. Together, public and private vehicles comprise the nearly 276 million vehicles owned in the U.S.
The largest car collection in the world belongs to Hassanal Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei Darussalam since 1967. At 76, the sultan is the longest-reigning monarch after the late Queen Elizabeth II and has spent a chunk of his estimated $30 billion fortune amassing a unique selection of luxury cars.
There are 290.8 million cars in the U.S. as of September 2022. This number includes all vehicles, including cars, SUVs, vans, and other medium- and heavy-duty vehicles that were registered. Between 2021 and 2022, the number of cars in the U.S. rose by 0.45%.
In 2021, almost 9.2 million motor vehicles were produced in the United States. Globally, there were around 80 million motor vehicles produced in the same year. Compared with the previous year, global motor vehicle production increased by more than three percent in 2021.
China ranked on top for the highest number of cars with almost 300 million registered, however, with a population of 1.4 billion, it means only around one in 203 people had a car – ranking the country in 27th place.
The number of EVs on U.S. roads is projected to reach 26.4 million in 2030, up from the projected 18.7 million in the 2018 report. The projected 26.4 million EVs will make up nearly 10 percent of the 259 million light-duty vehicles (cars and light trucks) expected to be on U.S. roads in 2030.
China is easily the largest car producer in the world by a country mile, though you'll have to read on to find out if it even ranks in terms of countries with the most cars per capita in the world.
Today, only about 12% of the world's population owns a vehicle. By 2020, with 15% of 7.5 billion people projected to own an automobile, the global vehicle parc could surpass 1 billion vehicles. Source: U.S. Census Bureau International Population Database, GM Global Market & Industry Analysis.
The car collection of the 29th Sultan of Brunei is the largest private car collection in the world, consisting of approximately 7,000 cars, which have an estimated combined value over US$5 billion.
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