Highest car density

Waldviertel most motorized in Austria

The car - status symbol or necessity? This varies from region to region.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/Kadmy - stock.adobe.com)

How many cars do the people of Lower Austria have? On average, there are 657 per 1000 inhabitants - but the cars are distributed very unevenly across the vast country. 

Anyone who thinks that residents of the wealthy regions around Vienna in particular like to splurge on second and third cars is mistaken. This is shown by an analysis by the Austrian Transport Association (VCÖ) based on data from Statistics Austria. According to the analysis, it is the people of the Waldviertel region who own the most cars in relation to the population.

Not a status symbol
However, we are not talking about off-road vehicles for hunting trips and convertibles for Sunday drives in the countryside - because in the northern regions of Lower Austria, cars are not a status symbol, but a necessity for coping with everyday life.

Austria-wide top values
This is also confirmed by expert Michael Schwendinger: "Where many everyday destinations are only easily accessible by car, the result is a high number of cars." From this point of view, it is therefore not surprising that the three statutory cities of Wiener Neustadt, St. Pölten and Krems have the lowest "motorization rate" per 1000 inhabitants. The fourth statutory city Waidhofen an der Ybbs is also in the bottom third of this ranking, as are the districts of Baden and Bruck an der Leitha. The regions of Tulln, Korneuburg and Gänserndorf also appear in the category of just under 650 cars per 1000 inhabitants. However, the Waldviertel districts of Gmünd, Horn, Zwettl and Waidhofen an der Thaya have significantly more than 700 cars per 1,000 inhabitants - these are also the absolute top figures in Austria.

Past mistakes in settlement development, business settlements and traffic planning are now costing the population, but also the regions as a whole, dearly.

Michael Schwendinger Mobilitätsexperte Verkehrsclub (VCÖ)

Bild: Land Vorarlberg/Bernd Hofmeister

The gap is widening
Incidentally, the density of cars in relation to the population has fallen in all provincial capitals with the exception of Eisenstadt. At the same time, it has risen almost everywhere in the countryside. The fewest cars per 1000 inhabitants are therefore in Vienna-Margareten with 260 cars, the most - see above - in the Waldviertel. Schwendinger: "The gap in car ownership between urban and rural areas is widening." The mobility expert derives three demands on politicians from this data: expansion of public transport connections, strengthening of town centers, measures against urban sprawl.