Fewer driving licences issued than before the pandemic

Driving lesson during the coronavirus crisis.
© ANP / Robin Utrecht
In 2021, the number of newly issued car driving licences was 7.8 percent higher than in the previous year. Altogether 178 thousand new licences were issued. This was still 17.7 percent lower than in the year before the pandemic outbreak. At the end of 2021, fewer young people were holders of a driving licence, while the number of older licence holders was up compared to the previous year. This is evident from new figures released by Statistics Netherlands (CBS).

On 1 January 2022, over 11.4 million people were holders of a Dutch car driving licence. This is virtually equal to one year previously (+0.1 percent). February 2021 had the lowest number of licences issued: 177. During the first lockdown in 2020, there was a substantial drop in the number of new licences. All driving tests were cancelled in the period 16 March to 16 May 2020. As a result, the number of issued licences fell rapidly, to 416 in the month of April.

No driving exams were held either during the second lockdown (15 December 2020 to early March 2021). Both car driving tests and lessons were permitted again as of 3 March 2021. During the lockdown commencing on 19 December 2021, driving tests and lessons were however resumed as they were then considered to be essential services. The number of newly issued licences was higher in December 2021 compared to the same month both one year and two years previously.

Fewer young people obtained a licence

The fact that driving tests were temporarily halted primarily affected the number of new car licence holders, most of whom are young people. Among 17-year-olds, the number of new licence holders declined by 17 percent in 2021 to 10 thousand. Relative to 2019 - the year before the coronavirus crisis - the decline even amounted to 45.4 percent.

Whereas in 2019, the number of new licence holders aged 18 to 20 was still on the increase (+2.3 percent), in the two following years this number declined by 10.5 and 8.3 percent, respectively.

More elderly people with licence

Over the past three years, the driving licence ownership rate has risen among people aged 75 and over. As of January 2022, more than 940 thousand people in this age group were holding a driving licence. This was 6 percent up on the previous year. Throughout the coronavirus crisis, people were allowed to continue driving with expired licences, since licence renewals were postponed. As a result, elderly people who would normally have let their licence expire due to health problems for instance, were able to keep their licence for a longer time.

Licence ownership rate highest in Rozendaal

At 914 licence holders per thousand inhabitants aged 17 and over, the municipality of Rozendaal had the highest driving licence ownership rate. Next was the municipality of Tubbergen with 909 licences per thousand inhabitants.

Amsterdam had the lowest ownership rate at 625 licence holders per thousand inhabitants.

Sources

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