Middle East and Africa: Iran Leads in Automobile Ownership with Over 14 Million Units

In the Middle East and Africa region, Iran's automobile fleet was the largest in 2018 with 14.13 million units. Iran was followed by South Africa (10.67 million units), Egypt (6.97 million units), Syria (6.9 million units), Saudi Arabia (6.6 million units) and Algeria (5.96 million units).

Ownership ratio was the highest in Reunion with 516.6 units per 1,000 people, followed by Kuwait (436.1 units), Libya (420.7 units), Syria (407.2 units), and Bahrain (391.0 units) in the top five countries. Meanwhile, among the 55 countries covered by this report, ownership rate were below 100 units per 1,000 people in 34 countries. In addition, ownership rate in eight countries, including Central Africa (1.0 units), Ethiopia (1.6 units), Sierra Leone (2.2 units), Sudan (2.6 units), and Burundi (5.6 units), was below 10 units. GDP per capita has not reached 1000 USD in many countries with low ownership rate. It is highly likely that fleet volume and ownership rate will increase along with future economic growth, and there is no doubt that this is a region where attention should be paid to as a potential market in the future.