Only 9% of households in Vietnam own a car

The country’s total population was 101,112,656 by April 1, 2024. The number of households was 28,146,939, up 1.3 million compared to 2019.

The majority of households use motorised personal vehicles such as motorbikes, mopeds and cars for daily activities.

Among them, 89.4% use motorbikes or motorcycles, and 9% (or 2,533 million households) use personal cars, which is about 3.3 percentage points higher than in 2019 (5.7%).

According to data from the Vietnam Register, by the end of 2024, there were approximately 6.8 million cars registered in the country, with around 3.45 million vehicles having nine seats or fewer.

So the average car ownership rate per capita was 68 cars per 1,000 people, and if only counting vehicles with nine seats or fewer, the rate was 34 cars per 1,000 people.

These figures are far lower than many countries in the region.

Data recently released by the International Organisation of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA) shows that Brunei tops car ownership rate in Southeast Asia, with 805 cars per 1,000 people, Malaysia is in second place with 490 cars, followed by Thailand, 275 cars, Singapore 211 cars and then Indonesia, with 99 cars per 1,000 people.

Statistics from the GSO also show that the average monthly income of workers in Vietnam was VND7.7 million (US$303) last year. A family of two both of working age would therefore have an income of VND15.4 million per month, or VND184 million per year.

To afford a mid-range car costing VND550 million, they would have to work for more than three years and have no expenditures.