Most passenger cars in Cyprus are between 10 and 20 years old according to data released by Eurostat, the statistical service of the European Union.

Specifically, on December 31st 2020, only 4% of passenger cars in Cyprus were newer than 2 years old (22,812 cars), 10% were between 2 and 5 years old (58,211), 20% were between 5 and 10 years old (117,506), 49% were between 10 and 20 years old (283,537) and 17% were older than 20 years old (96,092).

A total of 66% of passengers’ cars in Cyprus were therefore older than 10 years old.

Eurostat points out that in recent years, various countries offered programmes supporting the purchase of new cars with low emissions while scrapping the owners’ old cars.

However, the renewal of the fleet has been hampered by restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic and supply-chain disruptions.

At the end of 2020, the highest share of the newest passenger cars (2 years and less) among the EU Member States was registered in Luxembourg (22% of all passenger cars in Luxembourg).

Luxembourg was followed by France, Austria, Ireland, Belgium and Sweden (all between 16% and 17%).

Meanwhile, the highest shares of passenger cars from 2 to 5 years old were recorded in Luxembourg and Ireland (both 28%) and in Belgium (24%).

The highest shares of the oldest passenger cars (20 years or older) were registered in Poland (40%), Estonia (33%) and Finland (28%).

When combining the two oldest age classes, the highest share of passenger cars that are over 10 years old was registered in Lithuania (81%), followed by Romania (80%) and Poland (78%).

This is in stark contrast to Luxembourg (24%), Ireland (29%) and Belgium (32%), where these shares are less than one third of the fleet.