By the thousands: Auto ownership around the globe

The Economist ran a piece on vehicle ownership around the globe, and we just had to share. It's a graph of national car ownership rates and it's sure to produce a few "WTHs" from those who view it. Car-lovin' 'Murkins have to be on top, right? No. In fact, we'd bet the house that you wouldn't guess the country in the number one slot even if we spotted you the first letter of its name. It's Luxembourg. Yes, Luxembourg has claimed the top spot with 647 cars for every 1,000 residents. The highest ranked countries tend to be wealthy nations with small populations, so maybe seeing Iceland (#2) and New Zealand (#3) so high on the list makes more sense. And where does America rank? 16th! We can see placing below motor-manic Italy (4th), but we're even below Canada (5th) and Australia (8th). Heck, we're below France (12th). Go figure. At least we place higher than the Brits (19th) or Japanese (21st). The numbers come from the International Road Federation's "Pocket World in Figures 2009", and uses figures from 2005, the latest year available for all countries. Thanks for the tip, Filovirus

[Source: The Economist]