Do you know how many bicycles are sold every year in the world?
Do you know how many bicycles are sold every year in the world?
Do you know how many bicycles come out every year from factories around the world? 50 years ago they were almost as many as cars: about 20 million units of both means of transport, according to the barometer WorldDometers. But in recent years the growth that the use of the bicycle has had made the figures very different.
In 2003, 42 million cars were manufactured, a little more than double than in 1965. That year the bicycle sector reached the figure of 100 million units sold, that is, five times what it invoiced four decades ago.
For this year 2015 more than 120 million bicycle will be sold in the world, for the 62 million cars. That is, for each car that comes out of the factory, two bicycles are produced. Of all these, more than 1 million are marketed in Spain, where it is paradoxical that, being one of the countries where more bikes are bought, its use in large cities remains minority.
There is also the circumstance that some large cities, such as Madrid, suffer Pollution alarms that force to reduce the speed limit for motor vehicles as a measure to stop the high nitrogen dioxide rates in the air. The promotion of bicycle as a means of urban transport, together with an infrastructure policy that enhance mobility within cities is presented as a key factor for environmental sustainability.