New Passenger Car Registrations per 1,000 People (2025): Demand Intensity vs Ownership
What this metric captures
New passenger car registrations per 1,000 people approximates how quickly a country’s passenger-car market is being renewed. It is a flow indicator: it counts new additions over a year, scaled by population. This differs from ownership (cars per 1,000), which is a stock indicator describing the accumulated level of motorization.
A country can have high ownership but low new registrations (an older fleet, weaker replacement demand, credit constraints), or relatively low ownership but high new registrations (rapid catch-up, fast income growth, policy shifts, or large corporate/fleet demand).
How to read “registrations” across countries
- Registration rules differ: some systems register fleet vehicles earlier/later than consumer sales.
- Imports and re-registrations: where used imports are common, “new” registrations can be a smaller share of total registrations.
- Timing and definitions: some sources treat sales as a proxy for registrations; the key is consistent annual measurement.
- Compare with ownership: a flow metric is easier to interpret when paired with the stock level.
Top countries by new passenger car registrations per 1,000 people
Table shows per-capita intensity (registrations/sales per 1,000 people). The underlying annual “new passenger car sales/registrations” counts are embedded in the script and the per-capita rate is computed using population for the same year.
| Rank | Country | Registrations per 1,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Loading… | ||
Table 2. Turnover proxy (flow vs stock)
Renewal proxy = registrations per 1,000 divided by ownership per 1,000. It approximates the share of the existing fleet that new registrations could replace in a year (before exports/scrappage/re-registrations).
| Country | Registrations per 1,000 (2023) | Passenger car ownership per 1,000 (latest) |
|---|---|---|
| Belgium | 40.46 | 660 |
| Germany | 34.15 | 680 |
| Australia | 33.41 | 710 |
| Japan | 32.07 | 570 |
| Denmark | 29.06 | 600 |
| South Korea | 28.80 | 560 |
| Switzerland | 28.37 | 720 |
| UK | 27.79 | 620 |
| Sweden | 27.51 | 650 |
| Israel | 27.46 | 370 |
| Italy | 26.54 | 700 |
| Austria | 26.19 | 710 |
| France | 25.96 | 640 |
| Kuwait | 23.28 | 360 |
| Ireland | 23.03 | 640 |
| Norway | 23.00 | 690 |
| UA Emirates | 21.50 | 375 |
| Netherlands | 21.40 | 600 |
| Spain | 20.90 | 610 |
| Portugal | 20.66 | 560 |
Table 3. Lowest registration intensity (bottom of this edition)
Low values typically reflect weaker purchasing power, tighter credit, higher import dependence (especially used imports), or registration/import constraints. Conflict and macro instability can compress new demand sharply.
| Rank | Country | Registrations per 1,000 (2023) |
|---|---|---|
| 48 | Morocco | 3.85 |
| 49 | Peru | 3.45 |
| 50 | Vietnam | 2.89 |
| 51 | India | 2.85 |
| 52 | Indonesia | 2.77 |
| 53 | Colombia | 2.76 |
| 54 | Philippines | 2.46 |
| 55 | Ukraine | 1.61 |
| 56 | Egypt | 0.60 |
| 57 | Pakistan | 0.24 |
Winners and outliers (profiles)
Five notable cases by turnover proxy (high renewal vs very slow renewal):
- Israel: reg 27.46 per 1,000 vs own 370 per 1,000 (turnover proxy ≈ 7.4% of stock/year)
- Kuwait: reg 23.28 per 1,000 vs own 360 per 1,000 (turnover proxy ≈ 6.5% of stock/year)
- Belgium: reg 40.46 per 1,000 vs own 660 per 1,000 (turnover proxy ≈ 6.1% of stock/year)
- Pakistan: reg 0.24 per 1,000 vs own 216 per 1,000 (turnover proxy ≈ 0.1% of stock/year)
- Egypt: reg 0.60 per 1,000 vs own 232 per 1,000 (turnover proxy ≈ 0.3% of stock/year)
Related StatRanker pages
Compare flow vs stock on Passenger car ownership per 1,000 people. For congestion as a downstream outcome, see Traffic congestion index (cities).
Data sources
Registrations proxy (passenger car sales) by country: TheGlobalEconomy (OICA-based). Population: World Bank (SP.POP.TOTL, 2023). Taiwan population (2023): Taiwan MOI reporting.
External references: TheGlobalEconomy – Passenger car sales (country rankings) · World Bank API – Population, total (SP.POP.TOTL)
