The quality of fuel, the old age of cars, and the high usage of oil-powered vehicles, which emit more carbon dioxide, are the main reasons for poor air quality in Albania.

Comparative Eurostat data reveals that Albania and Kosovo have the highest percentage of oil-powered vehicles in Europe, with around 74% for Albania and about 82% for Kosovo for the year 2022.

Out of approximately 639,000 total vehicles in the country in 2022, around 471,000 are oil-powered. Gasoline-powered vehicles constitute about 17% (108,000), and alternative energy vehicles amount to 59,000 or 9.3%. Electric cars in the country in 2022 were less than 1,300, according to Eurostat data.

Western European countries have a much higher share of gasoline-powered cars and are increasing the use of alternative energy. For example, the Netherlands has less than 10% of oil-powered cars, while Turkey holds the record for alternative energy vehicles with around 30% of the total.

According to Eurostat, in 12 out of 23 EU member states in 2022, there were more gasoline-powered cars than oil-powered ones, with the percentage of gasoline-powered cars ranging from 85% in the Netherlands to 47% in Italy.

In 11 other member states, oil-powered cars exceeded gasoline-powered cars, with their percentage ranging from 67% in Lithuania to 50% in Romania and Slovenia. Despite efforts across Europe to increase the share of low-emission CO2 cars, the proportion of passenger cars powered by alternative fuel remained low in 2022 in most member states.

In 3 out of 23 member states for which information is available, passenger cars using alternative energy accounted for less than 1% of the total passenger car fleet. The EU member state with the highest percentage is Italy, where passenger cars with alternative fuel reached 10% in 2022.

Other countries with significant percentages of passenger cars using alternative fuel are Norway (20.1%), Sweden (8.3%), Lithuania (7.1%), and Latvia (5.7%).

Among candidate countries and potential candidates, the highest percentage of passenger cars using alternative fuel was recorded in Turkey (35.4%), Georgia (32.7%), and Moldova (16.8%). In Norway, almost all (99.9%) passenger cars with alternative fuel are battery electric vehicles, while in Turkey and Moldova, the majority of cars using gas dominate among alternative fuel passenger cars.

Few cars per capita

In relation to the population, Albania is among the countries with fewer cars in Europe.

According to Eurostat, in 2022, Albania had 226 cars per 1,000 inhabitants, ranking it third with the lowest rate for this indicator, leaving behind only Kosovo (182 cars for 2021) and Turkey (169).

In the region, residents of Montenegro have the highest number of cars (369), followed by Serbia (344).

Albanians have less than half the number of cars compared to the European Union average of 560 cars per 1,000 inhabitants.