Here’s how: According to CBS, the Dutch drive three million laps around the earth

Old level

During the corona years, automobile traffic fell sharply. Everyone can surely remember the images of deserted roads. In 2020, the number of miles driven fell by almost 18 percent. Since then we have been steadily recovering, and now we are even past the old level. For the first time since the corona pandemic, Dutch cars collectively covered more kilometers than in 2019, new figures from Statistics Netherlands show.

122 billion kilometers

In 2024, all of us drove nearly 122 billion kilometers. That’s three million laps around the earth. It is also an increase of more than 2 percent from the previous year. That’s 726 million kilometers more than before corona. On average per car, according to CBS, we are actually driving less, but that difference is more than made up for by the fact that there are simply more cars. In 2019, the Netherlands had 9.3 million passenger cars, now there are 9.9 million.

More women behind the wheel

Interestingly, women in particular drove more miles. Cars in the name of women drove 5.4 percent more miles than in 2019, while men drove slightly less. Especially young women under 40 and those over 60 are more likely to be in the car.

Wealthy households drive the most

Not surprisingly, higher-income households travel the most miles. In fact, lower-income people are more likely to take public transit. The highest income group accounts for more than 31 percent of all car kilometers, while the lowest income group accounts for less than 9 percent.

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