There are almost eight million cars in the Netherlands, or just under one for every two people, new figures from the national statistics office CBS on Friday show.

At the beginning of this year, the Dutch population owned 7.9 million cars, compared with five million 25 years ago.

The lowest level of car ownership is in Amsterdam, where one in four people own a car. Car ownership is also low in Rotterdam and The Hague.

The leafy town of Blaricum has most cars – almost six out of 10 people (572 per 1,000) own a vehicle.

By contrast, there are thought to be some 18 million bikes in the Netherlands, for a population of almost 17 million.