According to a Eurostat study, the use of the car as a means of transport has increased over the past ten years and remains by far the majority in all countries of the European Union. In 2021, it accounted for 79.7% of total passenger kilometers, up from 73.1% in 2011 – the passenger kilometer (pkm) is a unit of measurement for transporting one person over one kilometer.
During the same period, the share of transport carried out by coach, bus and tram fell from 9 to 7.1% and that of distances traveled by train fell from 6.6 to 5.6%. Finally, the share of air passenger kilometers stood at 7.3% in 2021. It was 10.9% in 2011 and reached a peak of 15% in 2019, before falling to 5.7%. in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Among the European Union countries, Lithuania has the highest share of car transport (91.7%), followed by the Netherlands (85.4%) and Finland (85. 2%). In France it is 78.8%. Croatia, for its part, has the highest level of distances traveled by plane (25.4%), followed by Bulgaria (16.3%) and Spain (13.1%). It is 8.2% in France.