Across the country there were 4.7 million vehicles in 2023, up from 2.9 million in 2004. This was an increase of 52%, but the population only grew by 28% in the same period.<\/p>\n
Southland had the highest rate of car ownership in the country, with a whopping 987 vehicles per 1000 people, closely followed by the Nelson-Tasman-Marlborough region on 972.<\/p>\n
By comparison, Wellington had the lowest rate of car ownership with just 696 vehicles per 1000 residents.<\/p>\n
Some of the reasons given for New Zealand\u2019s reliance on cars are its geography, population spread and legacy of low-density urban planning.<\/p>\n
However, vehicle usage \u2013 while convenient and in some cases necessary \u2013 can affect human health through the risk of serious crashes, air and noise pollution, and by accelerating climate change through the release of carbon dioxide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Across the country there were 4.7 million vehicles in 2023, up from 2.9 million in 2004. This was an increase of 52%, but the population only grew by 28% in the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-343104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t