The proportion of young people who own their own car has jumped a lot

Among urban youth aged 19-29, the proportion of those who owned their own car in the second quarter of 2024 was nearly 38 percent, according to the latest K&H Bank survey. This ratio is 49 percent among active earners in the age group, and 25-27 percent among students and inactive people. Among young adults, the percentage of those who do not have their own car is 42 percent on average, and 20 percent of those who use someone else’s car.

Between 2012 and 2018, the proportion of young car owners in their age group gradually increased from 15-25 percent to around 30 percent. Before 2015, the proportion of young people who did not use their own car was below 10 percent, then in the last years of the decade it was around 13-19 percent, and in the 2020s it was over 20 percent. Meanwhile, at the beginning of the period in question, the proportion of young people who do not own a car and do not use another vehicle was almost 80 percent, but it has now decreased to around 40 percent.

The visible increase in the number of people not driving their own car is presumably due to the popularity of car-sharing providers. Citing the latest surveys, the KTI Hungarian Institute of Transportation Science and Logistics’ report on Transportation Safety wrote that in 2023, compared to the previous year, 25-30 percent more people used the vehicles of the three domestic service providers. Among young people, these sustainability and environmental protection aspects, which are prioritized by K&H, as well as the need for a healthy environment, are becoming more and more important.