South Korea’s registered vehicle fleet reached 26,297,919 vehicles at the end of 2024, while the national vehicle-to-population ratio reached 513.5 vehicles per 1,000 people. These figures describe registered stock, not the number of households that own a car or the number of vehicles used daily.
Key Korean Car Ownership Statistics
The most useful headline figures are:
- South Korea had 26,297,919 registered vehicles at 2024 year-end across the national registered fleet.
- South Korea recorded 513.5 registered vehicles per 1,000 people at 2024 year-end nationwide.
- South Korea had 1.95 people per registered vehicle at 2024 year-end based on registration and population totals.
- The registered vehicle total increased by 1.3%, or 349,000 vehicles, during 2024 compared with 2023 year-end.
- Domestic vehicles represented 86.5% of South Korea’s registered fleet at 2024 year-end, while imports represented 13.5%.
- South Korea recorded 1,646,998 new vehicle registrations during 2024 nationwide.
- Eco-friendly vehicles accounted for 663,000 of 2024’s new registrations, or about 40% of the national total.
- South Korea had 2.746 million cumulative eco-friendly vehicles at 2024 year-end, up 626,000 year over year.
- South Korea had 21.589 million registered passenger cars in June 2024 within the cumulative vehicle stock.
- South Korea had 3.725 million registered trucks in June 2024 nationwide.
- South Korea had 1.771 million registered hybrids, 607,000 electric vehicles and 36,000 hydrogen vehicles in June 2024.
- Gasoline vehicles numbered 12.390 million in June 2024, compared with 9.299 million diesel and 1.849 million LPG vehicles.
- South Korea had 13.553 million medium-size registered vehicles in June 2024, the largest of the reported size groups.
- Gasoline passenger cars from 1,500–1,999 cc numbered 4,175,692 in 2023 and had an average fuel-economy value of 10.5 km/L.
- The 2023 weighted average passenger-car fuel price was 1,559.22 won per liter in the KTDB calculation.
- The 2024 year-end ratio was 2.3 people per registered vehicle in the capital region and 1.7 outside it.
Contents
- Key Korean Car Ownership Statistics
- National Korean Car Ownership Statistics and Long-Term Trends
- Domestic and Imported Vehicle Ownership Data
- Vehicle Classes, Body Types and Size Statistics
- Fuel and Electrification Trends
- Engine Size and Fuel-Economy Data
- Regional Density, Registration Flows and Fuel Costs
National Korean Car Ownership Statistics and Long-Term Trends
MOLIT’s registered-vehicle series shows a steadily expanding national stock. Approximate totals for 2017–2020 are derived from rounded domestic and imported components, so they should be read as estimates rather than exact counts.
| Period | Registered vehicles | Measure and geography |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 year-end | About 22.51 million | Derived estimate, South Korea |
| 2018 year-end | About 23.20 million | Derived estimate, South Korea |
| 2019 year-end | About 23.67 million | Derived estimate, South Korea |
| 2020 year-end | About 24.36 million | Derived estimate, South Korea |
| 2024 year-end | 26,297,919 | Observed cumulative registrations, South Korea |
Source: 자동차등록현황보고 (Total Registered Motor Vehicles) and 2024년 자동차 등록 현황에 대해 알아보아요~.
The density series also rose through the recent period: South Korea recorded 482.4 registered vehicles per 1,000 people in 2021, 495.8 in 2022, 505.6 in 2023 and 513.5 in 2024. The corresponding people-per-vehicle figures were 2.07, 2.02, 1.98 and 1.95, respectively.
These are registration-density measures, not household ownership rates. They include all registered vehicle classes in the source definition and do not measure licensed drivers, unique households or daily use.
Domestic and Imported Vehicle Ownership Data
Domestic vehicles remained the majority of the fleet, but the imported share expanded each year from 2017 through 2024.
| Year-end | Domestic share | Imported share |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 91.6% | 8.4% |
| 2018 | 90.6% | 9.4% |
| 2019 | 89.8% | 10.2% |
| 2020 | 89.0% | 11.0% |
| 2021 | 88.2% | 11.8% |
| 2022 | 87.5% | 12.5% |
| 2023 | 87.0% | 13.0% |
| 2024 | 86.5% | 13.5% |
Source: 자동차등록현황보고 (Total Registered Motor Vehicles).
The share change does not mean the domestic fleet shrank. MOLIT’s rounded component figures increased from 20.63 million domestic and 1.90 million imported vehicles in 2017 to 21.68 million domestic and 2.68 million imported vehicles in 2020.
Because the component totals are rounded to approximately millions, the derived national totals are explicitly approximate. The percentages describe the registered fleet at each year-end, not annual sales shares or ownership by household.
Vehicle Classes, Body Types and Size Statistics
During January–June 2024, South Korea recorded 823,000 new registrations. Passenger cars accounted for 713,000, trucks for 94,000, vans for 12,000 and special-purpose vehicles for 4,000.
At June 2024, the cumulative stock contained 21.589 million passenger cars, 679,000 vans, 3.725 million trucks and 141,000 special-purpose vehicles. The stock and the first-half flow are different measures: one describes registrations already accumulated, while the other describes new registrations during six months.
| Size category | New registrations, Jan–Jun 2024 | Registered stock, June 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Light | 55,000 | 2.237 million |
| Small | 80,000 | 3.200 million |
| Medium | 475,000 | 13.553 million |
| Large | 213,000 | 7.144 million |
Source: 자동차 누적등록대수 26,134천대.
The size categories follow MOLIT definitions, and the reported counts are rounded to thousands. The medium category was the largest reported group in the June 2024 registered stock, while medium vehicles also accounted for the largest first-half registration flow.
Korean Car Ownership Trends by Fuel and Electrification
MOLIT defines eco-friendly vehicles in this series as hybrids, electric vehicles and hydrogen vehicles. The category rose from 601,048 vehicles, or 2.5% of the fleet, at 2019 year-end to 820,329 vehicles, or 3.4%, at 2020 year-end.
By June 2024, South Korea had 2.413 million cumulative eco-friendly vehicles after 293,000 additions during the first half. The internal-combustion category stood at 23.539 million after a 107,000 decrease over the same period.
| Powertrain | New registrations, Jan–Jun 2024 | Registered stock, June 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Hybrid | 240,000 | 1.771 million |
| Battery-electric | 66,000 | 607,000 |
| Hydrogen | 2,000 | 36,000 |
Source: 자동차 누적등록대수 26,134천대.
The 2024 year-end MOLIT release reported 2.746 million cumulative eco-friendly vehicles, up 626,000 year over year. Eco-friendly vehicles represented 663,000 of 1,646,998 new registrations in 2024, with the displayed share rounded to about 40%.
Among cumulative electric-vehicle registrations at 2024 year-end, Hyundai accounted for 39.3%, Kia for 27.8% and Tesla for 13.6%. Domestic and imported electric vehicles represented 70.9% and 29.1%, respectively; these manufacturer and origin shares apply only to electric vehicles, not the entire fleet.
The June 2024 fuel classification counted 12.390 million gasoline vehicles, 9.299 million diesel vehicles and 1.849 million LPG vehicles. These are registration categories, not measurements of actual fuel consumption.
Korean Car Ownership by Engine Size and Fuel Economy
The 2023 KTDB table links passenger-car registration counts to average fuel-economy values. The economy figures come from the national energy survey and are paired with registration categories, so they are not measured owner-level fuel consumption.
| Fuel and passenger-car category | Registered vehicles, 2023 | Average economy |
|---|---|---|
| Gasoline, under 1,500 cc | 1,642,980 | 14.0 km/L |
| Gasoline, 1,500–1,999 cc | 4,175,692 | 10.5 km/L |
| Gasoline, 2,000 cc or more | 2,343,710 | 8.4 km/L |
| Gasoline multipurpose | 3,516,008 | 10.6 km/L |
| Diesel, under 1,500 cc | 856,140 | 12.9 km/L |
| Diesel, 1,500–1,999 cc | 2,186,503 | 11.9 km/L |
| Diesel, 2,000 cc or more | 1,227,229 | 9.3 km/L |
| Diesel multipurpose | 1,665,486 | 10.6 km/L |
| LPG, under 1,500 cc | 230,218 | 8.3 km/L |
| LPG, 1,500–1,999 cc | 583,308 | 8.1 km/L |
| LPG, 2,000 cc or more | 334,080 | 7.4 km/L |
| LPG multipurpose | 512,152 | 7.4 km/L |
Source: 2024년 국가교통조사 및 분석.
The same 2023 KTDB material lists 12,285,156 gasoline passenger cars, 6,057,674 diesel passenger cars and 1,701,617 LPG passenger cars in the national registration data. Those totals cover passenger-car rows and exclude non-passenger vehicle categories.
Regional Density, Registration Flows and Fuel Costs
Regional density differs substantially when registered vehicles are compared with population. At 2024 year-end, the national ratio was 1.9 people per vehicle, compared with 2.3 in the capital region and 1.7 outside the capital region.
| Geography | Population denominator, December 2024 | People per registered vehicle, 2024 year-end |
|---|---|---|
| South Korea | 51,217,221 | 1.9 |
| Capital region | 26,047,523 | 2.3 |
| Outside capital region | 25,169,698 | 1.7 |
Source: 2024년 자동차 등록 현황에 대해 알아보아요~.
The regional ratios use population and vehicle-registration totals, so they should not be interpreted as household ownership rates. In 2024, new registrations fell 7.4% in the capital region and 5.7% outside it, according to MOLIT’s regional comparison; those changes describe new-registration flows rather than stock levels.
The KTDB 2023 table reports a weighted average passenger-car fuel price of 1,559.22 won per liter, calculated from gasoline at 1,642.98 won/L, diesel at 1,558.26 won/L and LPG at 957.93 won/L. This is a report calculation based on fuel prices and registration counts, not a household’s actual fuel bill.
The national transport picture therefore combines a large and still-growing registered fleet with rising electrification, a declining domestic share, different regional registration densities and fuel-economy categories that vary by engine size and fuel type.