Driving licences and access to vehicles
Published
1. Main facts and figures
-
in 2022, 55% of black people had a full driving licence, compared with 78% of white people
-
32% of black people had no access to a car or van, compared with 15% of white people and 17% of Asian people
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data shows the percentage of people aged 17 and over in England who:
-
had a full driving licence
-
lived in households with no access to a car or van
A full driving licence is valid in England, Scotland and Wales and allows people to drive a car, motorcycle, scooter or moped.
The data includes people who were disqualified from driving but still had a full licence.
Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number and are calculated using unrounded figures.
Not included in the data
Percentages based on fewer than 100 people or 300 trips have not been included in the data (shown as ‘!’ in charts and tables). This is because the numbers are too small to make any reliable generalisations.
The ethnic groups used in the data
Data is shown for the following 5 aggregated groups:
- Asian
- black
- mixed
- white
- other
This means percentages are shown for these groups as a whole. This is to make sure group sizes are big enough to make reliable generalisations.
The data for ‘All’ includes people whose ethnic background is not recorded – this was 0.15% in 2022.
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document for this data.
The figures are based on survey data. Find out more about interpreting survey data, including how reliability is affected by the number of people surveyed.
You can read more about how weighting is used to make survey data more representative of the group it is about.
In the data file
See Download the data 2002 to 2022 data and for weighted and unweighted sample sizes.
Data for 2021 and 2022 cannot be compared with previous data because it is for one year only rather than 5 years combined. This is because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The data in the data file from 2002 to 2019 shows 5-year averages to make sure there are enough people to be able to make reliable generalisations. Read more about why we combine multiple years of data and some of the issues involved.
3. By ethnicity (driving licences)
| Ethnicity | % |
|---|---|
| All | 75 |
| Asian | 62 |
| Black | 55 |
| Mixed | withheld to protect confidentiality |
| White | 78 |
| Other | withheld to protect confidentiality |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity (driving licences)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity (driving licences)’ (CSV)
4. By ethnicity (access to vehicles)
| Ethnicity | % |
|---|---|
| All | 16 |
| Asian | 17 |
| Black | 32 |
| Mixed | withheld to protect confidentiality |
| White | 15 |
| Other | withheld to protect confidentiality |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity (access to vehicles)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity (access to vehicles)’ (CSV)
5. Data sources
Source
Type of data
Survey data
Type of statistic
National Statistics
Publisher
Department for Transport
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
The National Travel Survey is the main source of data on personal travel by people living in England. The survey collects information on how, why, when and where people travel. It also covers factors affecting people's travel habits, such as whether they have a car and driving licence.
6. Download the data
This file contains the following: measure, ethnicity, ethnicity_type, time, time_type, geography, geography_type, geography_code, value, value_type, and weighted and unweighted sample sizes
This file contains the following: measure, ethnicity, ethnicity_type, time, time_type, geography, geography_type, geography_code, value, value_type, and weighted and unweighted sample sizes