EU people on the move in 2022

In 2022, transport by car accounted for 72.2% of total passenger-kilometres across the EU, a decrease of 8.1 percentage points (pp) compared with 2021. Transport by planes made up 13.1% of total passenger kilometres, a notable increase of 6 pp compared with 2021. Coaches, buses, or trolleybuses followed at 7.4% (up 0.5 pp), trains at 7.0% (up 1.6 pp), and boats at 0.3% (stable compared with 2021). 

Even though transport by car dominated throughout the EU, its highest share was registered in Lithuania (87.9%), followed by Finland (78.6%) and the Netherlands (77.9%).

In terms of air transport, Croatia registered the highest share of air passenger-kilometres in the total performance across all means of transport (40.4%), followed by Bulgaria (25.9%) and Cyprus (23.2%).

Malta had the highest share of transport by coaches, buses, and trolleybuses (15.4%), with Ireland (14.1%) and Hungary (13.0%) trailing behind.

Source dataset: tran_hv_ms_psmod

Austria ranked highest in rail transport, with 11.0% of rail passenger-kilometres in the total transport performance by all means of transport, followed by the Netherlands (10.6%) and Sweden (9.5%).

In sea transport, Croatia registered the largest share of passenger-kilometres by sea vessels (2.5%), closely followed by Estonia (2.3%) and Finland (2.2%).

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This news item marks European Mobility Week, celebrated each year from 16 to 22 September, and aimed at raising awareness of sustainable urban mobility. 

For more information

• Statistics Explained articles on transport
• Thematic section on transport

Methodological notes

• The indicator presents the share of the performance by each means of transport in the total transport performance by all means, measured in passenger-kilometres. Passenger-kilometre represents one passenger travelling a distance of 1 kilometre.
• The share of a means of transport is calculated by dividing the passenger-kilometres performed by this means by the total passenger-kilometres performed by all transport means (passenger cars; buses, coaches and trolley buses; airplanes; trains and sea vessels). Changes of the share for one means of transport are impacted by the total passenger-kilometres performed and changes in the other means. Therefore, an increase in the share of one means of transport results in drops in the shares of other means but does not necessarily indicate drops in their actual number of passenger-kilometres performed. More information can be found in the data on passenger-kilometres by mode of transport.

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