Denmark and the Netherlands tied for first place in a new benchmark report that ranks all 27 European Union countries measuring five criteria—daily cycling levels, cycle tourism, advocacy activity, bicycle sales and cyclists’ safety.
The European Cyclists’ Federation put together the Cycling Barometer in the lead-up to next week’s Velo-city 2013, its international cycling conference in Vienna, Austria. The federation took five EU-wide surveys into consideration. Countries were given points according to their work in each criterion and all the points were added for a final score.
“The main purpose of launching the ECF Cycling Barometer is to get people talking about international comparisons in cycling,” said Chloe Mispelon, project manager. “We are constantly asked which countries in Europe are best for cycling. The ECF Cycling Barometer is our way of prompting a debate around five dimensions of cycling we are prioritizing.”
“We are confident in our results which show a strong correlation with other data and knowledge about cycling, but we call on the EU Horizon 2020 research program to establish data that is updated and maintained through to 2020,” Mispelon added. “The barometer shows we really need reliable statistics on cycling in the EU to enable governments and advocates to assess progress on cycling.”
Rounding out the top 10 countries in Europe best for cycling, in descending order, were Sweden, Finland, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and the United Kingdom.
The European Cyclists’ Federation, formed in 1983, is the umbrella group for national advocacy organizations and has been leading the charge to unify grass-roots advocacy and the industry. It has more than 70 members in 40 countries across Europe.
