Slovenians seem to buy more bicycles than the Dutch or even Danes

Mona Chalabi of the Guardian has collected data on car and bicycle sales and concludes that bicycle sales not only outnumber car sales, but that the gap has widened. The title of the article suggests the recession might play a role, but this article by Fabian Küster of the European Cyclists’ Federation - who uses the same sources - suggests it’s «an idle hope to believe that as soon as Europe’s economy recovers, car sales will go up again to pre-crisis levels».

If you look at car sales per 1,000 population, it turns out the Slovenians are Europe’s most enthusiastic bicycle buyers (that’s assuming the bicycle sale data for Slovenia are correct - this article quotes a lower number but gives no source). If you look at the bicycle sales to car sales ratio the picture changes considerably - likely because fewer cars are sold in poorer countries.