Cycling UK's Cycling Statistics

Great Britain

Cycling: proportion of all traffic mileage:

• 1% (usually)
• 2% (2020)

Cars and taxis: proportion of all traffic mileage:

• 77% (usually)
• 73% (2020)

Miles cycled:

• 3.30 billion miles (usually)
• 5.03 billion miles (2020).

Trend for billion miles cycled:

• upward over the last few decades
• 2.50 (1993)
• 2.80 (2003)
• 3.10 (2013)
• 3.30 (average a year, 2015-2019)

Cycling: proportion of trips:

• < 2% (usually, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland)
• 2.8% (2020, England).  
• Figures for Wales not available.

For data on other kinds of transport, please see full report.

The following figures come from differently framed surveys, so it’s best not to use them to make comparisons between nations.

England (aged 5 and over)

Cycle more than once a week:

• 14% (usually) / c7.4 million people
• 20% (2020) / c10.7 million

Occasionally each month:

• 10% (usually) / c5.2 million people
• little change in 2020

A few times/once or twice a year:

• 10% (usually) / c5.2 million people
• 8% (2020, a drop probably because some were cycling more often)

Wales (aged 16 and over)

Cycled as a ‘means of transport’ in the last three months (2016/17 to 2019/20):

• 5% every day / once, twice or several times a week (c135k people).
• 4% once or twice a month (c93k people).

Scotland (aged 16 and over)

Cycled for transport or pleasure in the last seven days (2014-19):

• 6% at least once (c265k people).

Northern Ireland (aged 16 and over)

Did any cycling in the last four weeks (2016/17 to 2019/20):

• 3% - 4.5% at least once a week
• 3% at least once every fortnight
• < 1.5% once every four weeks

England (aged 5 and over)

• 66% (usually)
• 61% (2020)

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland (aged 16 and over)

• > 90%  

England:

Number of trips per year

Cycle:

• 16 (usually)
• 20 (2020)

Car/van (as a driver):

• 387 (usually)
• 295 (2020)

All kinds of transport:

• 960 (usually)
• 739 (2020)

Mileage per year

Cycle:

• 54 (usually)
• 84 (2020)

Car/van (as a driver):

• 3,248 (usually)
• 2,324 (2020)

All kinds of transport:

• 6,553 (usually)
• 4,334 (2020)

Average trip length (miles)

Cycle:

• 3.3 (usually)
• 4.1 (2020)

Car/van (as a driver):

• 8.4 (usually)
• 7.9 (2020)

All kinds of transport:

• 6.8 (usually)
• 5.9 (2020)

Scotland

Trip distances (miles, 2019)

Cycle:

• 1.7 (median); 3.0 (mean)

Car/van:

• 4.2 (median); 9.0 (mean)

All kinds of transport:

• 2.7 (median); 7.3 (mean)

Northern Ireland (2017-19)

Number of trips per year

Cycle:

• 7

Car (as a driver):

• 453

All kinds of transport:

• 903

Mileage per year

Cycle:

• 34

Car (as a driver):

• 3,641

All kinds of transport:

• 6,130

Average trip length (miles)

Cycle:

• 4.8  

Car (as a driver):

• 8

All kinds of transport:

• 6.8

England (aged 5 and over)

• 42% (usually)
• 47% (2020)

Please see full report for breakdown by age group.

Wales (2013/14, last time question asked)

• 63% (aged 16-24)
• 63% (aged 25-44)
• 58% (aged 45-64)
• 44% (aged 65-74)
• 29% (75 and over)

Scotland (households owning one or more bicycles that can be used by adults)

• 33.5% (2019)
• 45% (2020 - sample size much smaller than normal)

Northern Ireland (aged 16 and over)

• 32% (2019/20)

Males cycle more than females, but the gap in England narrowed somewhat in 2020.

England

Number of cycle trips a year:

• Females – 9 (usually)
• Males – 24 (usually)

• Females – 13 (2020)
• Males – 28 (2020)

Number of miles cycled a year:

• Females – 23 (usually)
• Males – 89 (usually)

• Females – 50 (2020)
• Males – 127 (2020)

Wales (2019/20)

Usually travel to work by bicycle:

• Females – 1%
• Males – 2.4%

Scotland (aged 16 and over, 2019)

Cycled for transport:

• Females – 3%
• Males – 7%

Cycled for pleasure/to keep fit

• Females – 4%
• Males – 8%

Northern Ireland (of those who have use of a bicycle, aged 16 and over, 2019/20)

Cycled in the last four weeks:

• Females – 16%
• Males – 31%

Unsurprisingly, the younger people are, the more likely it is that they’ll cycle. For full breakdown by age group, please see the full report.

England

• Commuting – 35% (usually)
• Leisure* – 34% (usually)

• Commuting – 20% (2020)
• Leisure* – 55% (2020)

• Shopping – 11% (usually & in 2020)

• Education/escort education – 11% (usually)
• Education/escort education – 6% (2020)
   
• Personal business + business + other escort – 11% (usually)
• Personal business + business + other escort – 8% (2020)

*Visit friends at home and elsewhere, entertainment, sport, holiday and day trip.

Wales

Purpose of most recent trip by cycle (2014/15, the last time question asked):

• Getting to or from work/business – 30%
• Shopping (local + town centre + supermarket) – 27%
• Get to local/non-local leisure activity – 16%
• Visit friends and relatives – 15%
• Recreational – 5%
• Other + school/college + medical – 7%

Scotland

Percentage of people (i.e., all respondents to the survey, not just people who cycle) who reported cycling in the last seven days (2014-19):

• Just for pleasure – 6.1%
• For transport – 5.6%

England (5-16 year-olds)

• 2.2% (usually)
• 2.5% (2020)

Wales (primary school children)

• 1.7% (2014/15, last published estimate)

Scotland (all schools)

• 4% (‘Hands Up’ survey, usually and 2020)
• c. 2% (Household survey, 2018-2020)

Northern Ireland (4-18 year-olds)

• 1% (usually)

More on trends, other kinds of transport and trip length in the full report.

England

Commuting trips (proportion by cycle):

• 4% (usually)
• 5% (2020)

Wales

People who usually travel to their workplace by cycle:

• 2% (2019/20)

Scotland

Employed adults who usually cycle to work:

• 3% (2019)
• 2% (2020)

Northern Ireland

Workers who cycle-commute:

• 1% (2017/19)

• Broadly speaking, students, people on higher levels of income and those who identify themselves as ‘White other’ (rather than ‘White British’) tend to cycle more than other groups. (This is the case most years, but not every year).
• People with limiting disabilities are about half as likely to cycle as those who do not.

For a more detailed breakdown by nation (where possible), and to see who is least likely to cycle, please see full report.

Figures from the Department for Transport (England), suggest that:

• Almost every adult cyclist who holds a driving licence also drives
• About a third of people with a driving licence also cycle

For more detail, please see the full report.

Most cycle mileage happens on minor roads, in urban areas especially.

Proportion of cycle mileage on difference classes of roads:

• 82% minor roads, urban + rural (usually)
• 85% minor roads, urban + rural (2020)

• 59% minor urban roads (usually)
• 55% minor urban roads (2020)

• 23% minor rural roads (usually)
• 30% minor rural roads (2020)

The remainder happens on ‘A’ roads (18% usually; 15% in 2020), mostly on urban ‘A’ roads (14% usually; 11% in 2020).

For more detail, please see full report.

Please note the different measures for each nation.

England (mid-Nov 2019 to mid-Nov 2020)

• Cambridge - 29% of adults cycled at least three times a week. Average for England 5.3%

Wales (2018/19)

• Cardiff - 16% of adults cycled more often than once a month (anything from once or twice a month to every day). Average for Wales 9%.

Scotland (2019)

• City of Edinburgh - 13% cycled to work at least regularly. Average for Scotland 5.7%.

Northern Ireland (2017-19)

• Belfast – 2% of journeys. Average for Northern Ireland 1%.

For more on local areas that see a relatively high level of cycling, please see full report.

Not well. Out of 28 countries in Europe:

• The UK comes 22^nd for ‘cycling modal share’ (2%). The Netherlands comes top with c.27%.
• The UK comes 25^th for the proportion of people using a privately owned bike or scooter (inc. electric) as their mode of transport on a typical day (2%). Again, The Netherlands comes top at 41%. (2019).

For more stats on levels of cycling in different countries in Europe, plus some facts and figures specifically on The Netherlands, please see full report.

Cycling is safer than many people think it is.

In ‘normal years’ (2015-2019, GB), over a distance equivalent to 1,000 times round the Earth at its widest point:

• One cyclist is killed
• 33 are seriously injured
• 103 are slightly injured
• The figures for 2020 are: 0.70 (killed); 21 (seriously injured); 59 (slightly injured).

• There are around 10.4 million cycle trips for every cyclist fatality (9.4 in 2020).
• The general risk of injury of any severity whilst cycling is just 0.045 per 1,000 hours of cycling (0.025 in 2020).

Also,

• The risk of being killed whilst cycling per billion miles cycled has been trending downwards since 2013, as has the risk of being seriously or slightly injured.
• The health benefits of cycling outweigh the injury risks by between 13:1 and 415:1, according to various studies (and depending on the benefits/disbenefits considered).

Of course, every casualty is a casualty too many.

For more facts, plus a table showing the absolute number of cyclist casualties by nation, please see full report.

The Bicycle Association is the best source of figures for bicycle sales in the UK. They tell us that, in 2020:

• 3,260,000 cycles (units) of all kinds, including e-bikes, were sold
• 160,000 e-bikes (units) were sold

For further facts on the cycle industry, please contact the Bicycle Association directly. Our full report also supplies a few extra stats (including the average price paid for a bicycle).

On average, each household in the UK spends just under £82 a week on transport. In 2020, this included:

• £1.10 on bicycles
• £58.50 on cars/vans
• £21.70 on public transport

For a more detailed breakdown, please see full report.

Figures about stolen bikes come from police records and from household crime surveys. The difference between the two sets of data suggests that by no means all thefts are reported.

England & Wales (April 2019 -  end March 2020)

• c271,000 incidents of bicycle theft (household survey)
• 88,303 bicycle theft offences for the same period (police records)

Scotland (2019/20)

• c19,000 bicycle theft crimes committed, affecting 0.7% of households (crime survey, not police records, best estimates).

Northern Ireland

• 0.6% households and 1.6% of bicycle owners (adults) fell victim to bicycle theft (2019/20 household survey, best estimates)
• 731 bicycle thefts (2020/21, police records)

• Annual Cycling Monitoring Report, Cycling Scotland
• Active Travel Walking and Cycling, Welsh Government
• Bicycle Association
• Cycling in Northern Ireland, Department for Infrastructure, Northern Ireland
• Walking and cycling statistics, Department for Transport (cover England)
• National Survey for Wales
• National Travel Survey / National Travel Attitudes Survey, Department for Transport (cover England)
• Reported Road Casualties Great Britain, Department for Transport
• Transport and Travel in Scotland, Scottish Government
• Road Traffic Statistics Great Britain, Department for Transport (GB)
• Travel Survey for Northern Ireland, Department for Infrastructure, Northern Ireland

The list above includes the references sources we most often use, but there are a few others. For full details, please see the full report.