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Cars have had a tremendous impact across the globe. Your life will be very different if you live in a country with a high number of automobiles than it will be if you reside in one in which automobiles are less abundant.
For one thing, people tend to weigh more in countries in which motor vehicles represent the main form of transportation.
Here, then, is a look at those countries in which automobiles rule, and at those in which they’re more of an afterthought.
If you had to guess which country has the most automobiles per 10 people, you’d probably say the United States, right? Well, you’d be correct. In no surprise at all, the United States ranked first on this list; the United States features an amazing seven-and-a-half automobiles for every 10 residents.
But what country comes in second place? Would you have guessed Australia? Probably not, but the Aussies also love their cars. Australia features just more than six cars for every10 residents.
Coming in third place is Canada, with nearly six cars for every 10 people. Next is Germany, with more than five-and-a-half cars per 10 people; Japan, just about five-and-a-half cars; France, five cars; the United Kingdom, just over four cars; and Saudi Arabia, about three-and-a-half cars.
Not surprisingly, countries with more automobiles tend to also suffer from more automobile-related deaths. But what countries saw the most automobile-related deaths per capita?
The United States ranked fairly high on this list, seeing about 150 deaths per million vehicles in 2008. Topping this list, though, was Russia, which had more than 800 deaths per million vehicles in the same year.
Mexico also saw a significant number of auto-related deaths per million vehicles in 2008, over 200,000. Canada and France both saw over 100,000, while the United Kingdom and Japan both suffered about 100,000 in 2008.
And let’s not forget obesity. This is a serious problem in the United States, with medical groups reporting each year that U.S. residents are simply getting heavier. Much of this does have to do with the country’s reliance on the automobile. Studies show that in countries were people travel more by bike or on foot people tend to weigh less.
The United States, whose residents rely the most on cars to get around, has the highest obesity rate in the world. Germany, by comparison, ranks somewhere in the middle in both obesity and reliance on driving. On the healthier side comes Switzerland. Most residents here do not rely on cars to get from place to place. Instead, they mostly walk, with a bit of bicycling thrown in for good measure. Not surprisingly, the residents of Switzerland are rarely obese.
Don’t expect the United States population, though, to give up its cars any time soon. The automobile has a long and proud history in the United States. Did you know that if you laid out the United States’ roads and highways in a straight line you could drive to and from the moon an amazing 18 times? Does that sound like a country that’s ready to forsake the automobile?
