Chen, WuCarstensen, Trine AgervigWang, RanranDerrible, SybilRojas Rueda, David, 1979-Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark J.Liu, Gang2022-11-232022-11-232022Chen W, Carstensen TA, Wang R, Derrible S, Rojas Rueda D, Nieuwenhuijsen MJ, Liu G. Historical patterns and sustainability implications of worldwide bicycle ownership and use. Commun Earth Environ. 2022;3(171). DOI: 10.1038/s43247-022-00497-42662-4435http://hdl.handle.net/10230/54978Bicycles are widely recognized as an effective solution for reducing short-distance trip-related climate impacts and addressing sedentary lifestyle-caused chronic diseases. Yet, the historical patterns of global bicycle production, trade, stock, and use remain poorly characterized, preventing thorough investigation of its role in sustainable road transport transition. Here, based on a dynamic model and various data sources, we have compiled, to our knowledge, the first global dataset for bicycle ownership and use by country from 1962 to 2015. Our comparison between the historical development of per-capita bicycle ownership and car ownership reveals five varying types in an S-curve among different countries. High bicycle ownership does not necessarily lead to high bicycle use, which is instead still marginal in daily trips worldwide (<5% for most countries). A worldwide pro-bicycle policy and infrastructure development enabled modal shift like the Netherlands and Denmark can lead to significant untapped climate and health benefits.application/pdfeng© The Author(s) 2022. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-022-00497-4EconomicsEnvironmental economicsEnvironmental sciencesSocioeconomic scenariosSustainabilityinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess