Revealed! Is Malta’s number of cars on the road increasing faster than our population?
Is Malta’s number of cars on the road increasing faster than the island’s population? According to the National Statistics Office’s Transport Statistics 2018 reports (referencing 2017), it just might be.
At the end of 2017, the population on our islands reached 475,701, an increase of 3.3 per cent over 2016. And with population increase comes more demand in various aspects, one being vehicle use. But it's not just the population that's increasing. The NSO’s report states “the number of vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants totalled 782 in 2017, an increase of 0.3 per cent over 2016. This value drastically increases to 938 vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants aged 18 years and over.” Damn.
At the end of 2017, more than 60 per cent of the population of legal driving age held a road driving licence. “The average amount of vehicles per household was estimated at 2.2, while that of passenger cars per household was estimated at 1.7.” Surprisingly, the Gozo and Comino district registered the “highest number of vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants with 1,052, while passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants registered in this district amounted to 711.”
The NSO also included a few other things:
1. In 2017, an estimated 2,976 million km were driven by all licensed vehicles, equivalent to around 3,871 trips from Earth to the moon and back.
2. A total of 2,333 million km (78.4 per cent) travelled were made by passenger cars. On the other hand, the lowest recorded numbers were for quad and ATVs: 4.893 million km.
3. Northern registered vehicles travelled the most, recording 766 million km, while the least driven were those in the Gozo and Comino district, amounting to 256 million km.
4. Route buses were driven most, totalling an estimated average of 74, 089 km during 2017.
5. Gross inland petrol fuel consumption amounted to 105.18 million litres, of which 99.1 per cent was used for road transport.
6. Carbon dioxide emissions were on the rise in 2017, reaching 588.53 ktons, an increase of 1.1 per cent over 2016.
7. There was a significant increase of public transport usage, amounting to 48.1 million passengers (an increase of 11.1 over 2016). Routes 13, 14 and 31 were the most popular ones among travellers.
With all of this revealed, Malta’s current traffic situation is under scrutiny, especially with the Central Link Project having just been given the green light. Many have protested, crowdfunded and voiced their opinions on the matter including Raffaella Zammit, a geographer who we spoke to about the project.
What do you think about the stats?