Denmark is the most welcoming European country for cyclists, followed by the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Germany and Belgium. This is according to a table unveiled by the European Cyclist’s Federation on Monday.
Denmark came top of the first table in 2013, which included the 27 countries that made up the European Union (EU) at that time. The new table for 2015 includes Croatia in 16th place, a new EU member.
Several countries have moved further up the table: Slovenia went from 12th to 7th place, Luxemburg went from 19th to 13th, Lithuania went from 20th to 15th, and Spain went from 23rd to 18th.
Below the leaders, some countries remain in the same position as last time, or close to it. This is the case for Hungary (8th), Slovakia (10th), the UK (10th, tied), France (12th), the Czech Republic (14th) and Poland (20th).
Globally, as in 2013, the Federation says “a lot of progress could be made in southern and eastern European countries”. Where the countries fall in the table depends on 5 criteria: the percentage of the population that normally travels by bike, safety, the amount of cyclo-tourism, the market for new bikes and the presence of pro-bike demonstrators.
(Source: Belga)
