Travel leery: Which countries drive, fly, cycle, and take the train most?

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By Lindsay Wilson, January 12, 2014

 

Which Country Travels the most?

Americans Love Their Cars

Americans travel 40% further than Canadians on the road each year, 60% more than Australians and double the distance of Brits.  The figures are total road passenger kilometres per capita from 2010.

The Japanese Rule The Rails

The Japanese travel further by rail each year than anyone, at over 3,000 passenger kilometres per capita.  The early adoption of high speed rail networks between numerous large cities is key to that.

The Irish Have Grown Wings

Decent public data on distance flown per capita is thin on the ground.  The best I could do here was 'passengers carried per capita' by airlines from that country.  Ireland is off the charts due to Ryanair.

he Dutch Are Queens Of The Bicycle

The Dutch cycle an average of 2.5 km per day.  Three times that of a German, ten fold a Brit and twenty times more than Americans.

Data: road, rail and air: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/, cycling: Making Cycling Irresistible (Pucher, John and Buehler, Ralph (2008)

 

 

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