This figure represents the number of cars, trucks (light, medium and heavy duty), and buses, but does not include off-road vehicles or heavy construction equipment. The world vehicle population passed the 500 million-unit mark in 1986, from 250 million motor vehicles in 1970. Between 1950 and 1970, the vehicle population doubled roughly every 10 years. Navigant Consulting forecasts that the global stock of light-duty motor vehicles will reach 2 billion units in 2035.Global vehicle ownership in 2010 was 148 vehicles in operation per 1000 people, a ratio of 1:6.75 vehicles to people, slightly down from 150 vehicles per 1000 people in 2009, a rate of 1:6.63 vehicles to people. The global rate of motorization increased in 2013 to 174 vehicles per 1000 people. In developing countries vehicle ownership rates rarely exceed 200 cars per 1,000 population.The following table summarizes the evolution of motor vehicle registrations in the world from 1960 to 2019:

Alternative fuels and vehicle technology adoption

Since the early 2000s, the number of alternative fuel vehicles has been increasing driven by the interest of several governments to promote their widespread adoption through public subsidies and other non-financial incentives.
Portugal, between 1991 and 2002 grew up 220% on its motorization rate, having had in 2002, 560 cars per 1000 people.Italy also leads in alternative fuel vehicles, with a fleet of 779,090 natural gas vehicles as of June 2012, the largest NGV fleet in Europe. Sweden, with 225,000 flexible-fuel vehicles, has the largest flexifuel fleet in Europe by mid-2011.More than one million plug-in electric passenger cars and vans have been registered in Europe by June 2018, the worlds second largest regional plug-in stock after China.Norway is the leading plug-in market in Europe with almost 500,000 units registered as of December 2020. In October 2018, Norway became the worlds first country where 10% of all passenger cars on the road are plug-in electrics. Also, the Norwegian plug-in car segment market share has been the highest in the world for several years, achieving 39.2% in 2017, 49.1% in 2018, and 74.7% in 2020. Japan
Japan had 73.9 million vehicles by 2010, and had the worlds second largest motor vehicle fleet until 2009. As of 2016, the registered motor vehicle fleet totaled 75.81 million vehicles consisting of 61,40 million cars and 14,41 million trucks and buses. Japan has the largest hybrid electric vehicle fleet in the world. As of March 2018, there were 7.51 million hybrids registered in the country, excluding kei cars, and representing 19.0% of all passenger cars on the road.