https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/cars-by-country

This data from the World Population Review site shows that Finland has the 8th most cars per capita in the world. (San Marino is #1 on this list.)

For every 1000 people in Finland, there are 950 cars. This makes Finland the country with the most cars per person if you exclude the extremely small countries ranked 1-7 on this list.

I was very surprised to see that Finland has more cars per capita than the United States. I have never been to Finland (I am from California). I am interested to know what the car culture is like over there. Is it different than other European countries? Is it common for families to have multiple cars? Is there a lot of traffic congestion in densely populated areas?

I've always imagined the urban areas of the Nordic countries to be walkable, car-free, and full of great public transportation. A paradise for any r/urbanism member. Is this not the case in most of Finland? Is the car-free urbanist paradise only a reality in the Helsinki area? Or are there actually lots of cars on the streets of Helsinki?

Thank you for helping me understand Finnish car culture, I deeply appreciate it! =]

by Kanjiro

16 comments

  1. Country with long distances. Also a lot of older cars are kept instead of demolishing.

  2. Huge distances, low density, basically a forrest, still has dirt roads in many places hence 2 cars per household (shit car – always old Volvo + some Toyota or Å¡koda for city/job) registration also includes semi farming equipment as a car, for example small van categories, many dairy farms have multiple cars, kids get shit/good volvos as heirloom etc etc etc

  3. Especially outside large cities, the public transportation is from poor to nonexisting.

  4. We have a pretty low population density outside of the big cities. While I believe the major cities have pretty good public transportation, outside of that you’re basically required to have a car to go or do anything.

  5. Distance, in those countries above Finland on the list you could basicly walk anywhere. In Finland one dont simply walk or cycle from Helsinki to Oulu, etc.

  7. Finns have a lot of summer cabins. A nuisance to get there with public transport.

  8. Two simple reasons: 1) Low population density 2) Thoroughly populated country.

    Norway and Sweden are both low population density aswell, but they are basically populated only in the south.

  9. That statistic is a bit weird number. As far as passenger cars go, the real number is 2.7 million so I am not sure what is being counted towards 5+ million vehicles.

  11. I bought a car few months after arriving in Finland. If you live outside Helsinki area it’s very hard to stay without a car. Also, insurance price and general costs are quite low compared to my home country, which motivated me to get one.

  12. You ask this and not why there’s so many cars in those tiny countries? Have you seen the length of Finland, it takes 12 hours to drive from south to the North. You can get by plane or train only to certain places. Both are expensive, it’s way cheaper to pack 4 people in a car than a train. You get actual working public transport only in bigger cities, the rest you are lucky of there’s a bus twice a day, if at all.

  13. Like two redditors have already said, this stat seems wrong. All the sources I’ve seen thus far show around .75 cars per person.

    The source states “The category ‘cars’ includes automobiles, pickup trucks, SUVs, vans, buses, and freight and other commercial trucks, but excludes two-wheelers.”

    I don’t know how much bus and truck fleets and other such vehicles can skew the stat?

    Anyhow, many people prefer the freedom related with having your own car. Public transport is good or great inside of the bigger cities and useful for school kids in many smaller ones, but the coverage drops off quick: I’m about 20 km away from the center of my region’s “big city”, but if I were to commute by bus, I’d have to hang around for a long time both going there and coming back, as the bus goes so sparsely.

  14. Theres more saunas than cars in finland so this 5,3 mil is wrong.

  15. Those are all possible vehicles, meaning also moped cars, trucks, all-terrain vehicles and so on. Finland is a big playground. Five million inhabitants in a country as big as Germany. 

  16. I’d love to not own a car but then I couldnt get to work

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