New research from Confused.com has revealed which countries around the globe have the most congested roads.
With an average of 553 cars for every kilometre (km) of road within the country, the United Arab Emirates is the most congested place to drive in the world, followed by Hong Kong in second place and Singapore in third position.
New Zealand is the 34th most congested place to drive in the world, with 35 cars per km of road.
To reveal the average number of cars per kilometre of road in each country, the study calculated the total number of vehicles and divided this by the size of the road network for 64 of the world's major economies. This figure was used to rank each country's roads from the highest to lowest volume-to-capacity ratio.
The study also looked at pollution levels - Egypt is the world’s 14th most car congested country, but, with an average of 87 micrograms of air pollution per cubic meter of air (µg/m³) it has the highest air pollution levels in the top 20 most congested countries.
In total, there are 2.25 million cars in UAE, all sharing 4,080 km of road – or put another way, for every km of road in the country, there are 533 cars jostling for space. That’s 37% more than the next most congested destination, Hong Kong and almost 520% more than the UK.
Hong Kong ranks second, with 390 cars per km of road, across a total network of 2,107 km. Following in third place is Singapore, with 192 cars per km on its 3,500km wide road network. Turkey (171 cars per km) and Bulgaria (160 cars per km) are close behind in fourth and fifth position, respectively.
Europe and Asia dominate the top 20, with Mexico and Egypt the only countries to feature from other continents.
The United States is nowhere to be seen in the top 20 and the United Kingdom features as the 11th most congested country, but ranks the lowest of any country when it comes to pollution levels, with 8 micrograms of air pollution per cubic meter of air. That’s 90% less than Egypt.
The Top 20 Most Congested Countries in The World
|
Rank |
Country |
Total no. of vehicles |
Total road network in km |
Number of cars per km of road |
Average µg/m³ of pollution |
|
1 |
United Arab Emirates |
2,254,000 |
4,080 |
553 |
29 |
|
2 |
Hong Kong |
821,933 |
2,107 |
390 |
15 |
|
3 |
Singapore |
672,800 |
3,500 |
192 |
12 |
|
4 |
Turkey |
11,676,000 |
67,333 |
173 |
19 |
|
5 |
Bulgaria |
3,339,000 |
19,512 |
171 |
28 |
|
6 |
South Korea |
17,664,000 |
110,714 |
160 |
25 |
|
7 |
Taiwan |
6,806,800 |
43,206 |
158 |
15 |
|
8 |
Israel |
2,805,000 |
19,555 |
143 |
17 |
|
9 |
Czech Republic |
5,392,800 |
55,744 |
97 |
12 |
|
10 |
Malaysia |
13,216,000 |
144,403 |
92 |
16 |
|
11 |
United Kingdom |
34,087,500 |
394,428 |
86 |
8 |
|
12 |
Italy |
37,875,000 |
487,700 |
78 |
19 |
|
13 |
Mexico |
29,603,200 |
398,148 |
74 |
19 |
|
14 |
Egypt |
4,819,200 |
65,050 |
74 |
87 |
|
15 |
Germany |
45,090,000 |
625,000 |
72 |
10 |
|
16 |
Romania |
5,529,000 |
84,185 |
66 |
16 |
|
17 |
Switzerland |
4,644,000 |
71,557 |
65 |
9 |
|
18 |
Iran |
14,175,900 |
223,485 |
63 |
27 |
|
19 |
Netherlands |
8,601,300 |
139,124 |
62 |
10 |
|
20 |
Portugal |
4,630,800 |
82,900 |
56 |
9 |
Ranking in positions 21 - 50 are some of the biggest countries in the world, including the US, Russia and China.
Russia ranks in 33rd position with 38 cars per km of road across its total road network that spans 1.2 million km. China ranks in 37th position with 32 cars per km of road, and the US just makes the top 50 in 47th place, with 18 cars per km of road, across a total network of 6.6 million km - the longest road network of all countries analysed.
In the top 50, Egypt still has the highest pollution levels, but Norway kicks the UK off the top spot as the country with the lowest levels of air pollution - with an average concentration of six micrograms of air pollution per cubic meter of air, compared to UK’s eight.
