Facts and Figures on Cycling in Denmark
Photo: Thomas Høyrup Christensen - Copenhagen Media Center
With the start of Tour de France coming to Denmark, 2022 will be a year of celebrating the Danish bicycle culture. Here are the top facts to know about the way the Danes bike.
- In January 2022, the Danish Ministry of Transportation announced that 2022 is "The Year of the Bike". This initiative was launched as a part of a large infrastructure plan, investing $458 million in new cycling infrastructure. The first $64 million are to be used in 2022, mostly for the establishment of new bike lanes across the country.
- In the past 10 years, Copenhagen has invested over $200 million in cycling infrastructure. In the budget for 2022, $10 million have been allocated for initiatives aimed at maintaining and improving the position of Copenhagen as the most bike friendly city in the world.
- Copenhagen has been ranked #1 Cycling City many times, for example in the most recent version of the bi-annual Copenhagenize Index from 2019.
- On average, each Dane cycles 1.4 kilometers (0.9 mile) a day.
- The Danes bike a combined total of 8 million kilometers (5 million miles) per day.
- Every day, the Dronning Louises Bro bridge in Copenhagen is crossed by 40,000 cyclists making it the most heavily trafficked stretch in Denmark.
- 25% of all trips under 5 kilometers (3 miles) are done on bike. For all trips, 16% of are done on a bike.
- Copenhagen’s aim is for 50% of all trips to work and education to be done on bike in 2025. In 2019, the number was 44%.
- 40% of the cycling trips are commuting to work and school, 33% are leisure trips, 25% are running errands and 2% are business trips.
- 7 out of 10 of all Danes over the age of 6 own a bike. In Copenhagen, this number is 9 out of 10.
- In 2020, a political agreement ensured investments of DKK 520 million ($82 million) for improved cycling infrastructure in Denmark.
- The first bike lane in Denmark was established in 1892 by esplanade in Copenhagen. Today, there 385 kilometers (239 miles) in the city.
- The network of national cycle routes span 4,770 kilometers (2,963 miles) across all of Denmark.
Sources: Copenhagen Municipality, The Cycling Embassy of Denmark, DTU Center for Transport Analytics and The Ministry of Transportation.