The car ownership rates have been continuously growing in Europe in the past decades, but with some regional differences. In central European countries the amount of cars per inhabitants increased the most between 1980s and the beginning of the 21st century and has started to stagnate since then. In Eastern Europe the car ownership rates still have a growing trend. A country like Finland also has an increasing amount of cars, which can partly be explained through sparsely populated areas, long distances and the lack of public transport services outside of urban areas.
