Bulgarians lead the Balkans in time spent driving, study shows

Bulgarians drive more than their Balkan neighbours, averaging more than 21 000 km per year, according to a survey by CarVertical, reported by BGNES. They are closely followed by the Serbs, who drive an average of 20,028 kilometres per year, and the Romanians with 20,338 kilometres. Hungarians and Croats drive slightly less, with 19,357 and 19,587 kilometres respectively.

The Netherlands is the European champion - Dutch cars top the list with the highest average annual mileage of 29,851 kilometres. Spain follows with 29,017 kilometres, Denmark with 27,346 kilometres, Belgium with 24,308 kilometres and France with 23,775 kilometres.

Conversely, Latvians use their cars the least, with an average of 17,420 kilometres per year.

In a separate development, Bulgarians are on course to break the 2008 local record for new car registrations in the country, the Association of Automobile Manufacturers told Bloomberg TV Bulgaria. More than 23,000 new cars were sold in the first six months of this year alone.