Motorists covered more kilometres than before the pandemic in 2024 even though the average per driver fell by nearly 6%, statistics agency CBS reported.

The total distance at home and abroad was nearly 122 billion km, 23% higher than the previous record year of 2019. The following year car use dropped by around 20% as coronavirus restrictions took hold.

The extra traffic was entirely down to private cars, which covered 96.1 billon km, 0.6% more than in 2019, while business travellers drove less far.

But the distance per car was 5.7% lower because there are more registered vehicles – 9.9 billion rather than 9.3 billion six years ago.

Women spent more time behind the wheel in 2024, covering 5.4% more kilometres than in 2019 while the distance covered by men was down by 0.6%.

The figures also showed people in the top income bracket, classed as the highest 20% of earners, drove more than three times as far as those at the bottom of the scale.