The debate of whether or not there are more cars in the world has been happening for years. This seemingly simple question has vexed many who have attempted to answer it, but it is time to determine if there are more cars or wheels in the world.
There are significantly more wheels than cars in the world. There are roughly 1.446 billion cars worldwide, while there are an estimated 37 billion wheels worldwide. Most cars have four wheels, which means that wheels will always outnumber cars.
Let’s explore the debate regarding the number of wheels and cars in the world to find out how we reach a conclusion.
Cars vs Wheels In The World
There are several ways to approach this question, and technically multiple answers that can be found. However, there is only one true answer.
The truth is that there are more wheels than cars in the world. There are more than a billion cars worldwide, but there are many more wheels than cars.
A billion is considerable, and it is almost impossible to imagine so many cars. More than 17% of the international population have their own vehicle, which is less than most people would imagine. But it is still a shockingly large number when considering how many people there are in the world.
Every major city has millions of cars, and there are thousands of major cities internationally. However, there are still more wheels on earth than there are cars. Let’s explain.
Every car in the world has multiple wheels, including the car’s spare wheel. This alone proves that there are more wheels than cars, but the reason why there are many times more wheels than there are cars in the world is simply that wheels are not only found on vehicles.
Almost all types of land-based transportation are equipped with wheels, including bicycles, skateboards, scooters, rollerblades, motorcycles, trucks, buses, tricycles, ATVs, personal electric vehicles, trains, and shoes with wheels in them. Even airplanes have wheels.
Wheels are not only found on vehicles, however. Wheels are everywhere. Toys, sliding gates and doors, kitchen drawers with roller rails, conveyor belts, and even those glass plates inside a microwave all operate with wheels.
Wheels are everywhere, come in different sizes, and are made for various uses and functions.
When considering that wheels are not only found on cars and other vehicles, it is easy to see the truth that there are many more wheels in the world than there are cars.
How Many Cars Are There Worldwide?
We have established that there are considerably more wheels in the world than cars, but let’s take some time to review some details that prove the point. Beginning with the exact number of vehicles in the world right now.
At the time of this article, there were 1.446 billion cars worldwide. That number is so large that it is frankly too large to imagine. Picturing 1.446 billion cars is not something the human mind can easily do.
We have done the math, and to put the number 1.446 billion into perspective, if you were to count to it continuously without stopping to eat, sleep, or even breathe, it would take 45 years, 6 months, and 3 weeks to get to that astronomical number.
With that said, there are still more wheels than cars. Even if we only count the wheels the vehicles use, there are at least three times as many wheels in the world as cars. This means that cars alone make use of 5.784 billion wheels, not counting the spare wheels that most wheels carry with them.
By simply math, we find that there are definitely more wheels in the world than cars, but the story does not end there. There are more cars worldwide than we definitively know of, and more cars are being made daily. Does this affect the answer to the question?
The truth is that the more cars there are and the more vehicles that are built, the more wheels there will be, as these cars will all use wheels for their essential operation.
Regardless of how many cars are made, unless they are somehow made to function without wheels, there will always be more wheels than cars, as cars use more than one wheel to operate.
How Many Wheels Are There Worldwide?
We have established that there are more wheels in the world, and we have learned how many cars there are on the planet, but how many wheels are there in the world? If there are more wheels than cars, how many more wheels are there than cars in the world?
The truth is that it is effectively impossible to determine precisely how many wheels there are in the world.
This is because there is no way to keep track of or count how many wheels there are currently. More wheels are made and used every day internationally.
Wheels are made for many different functions, which means that they are found in many devices, machines, and items, making it impossible to pinpoint every wheel in the world.
A commonly accepted estimate that considers vehicles, toys, and other ubiquitous devices that use wheels states that there are roughly 37 billion wheels worldwide.
However, this number is inaccurate, as it does not consider every single wheel and type of wheel used worldwide. There are likely more than 37 billion wheels in the world. Still, even this number is more remarkable than the number of cars internationally.
Conclusion
The definitive answer is that there are indisputably more wheels than cars. Even the wheels that cars use alone are more than the cars themselves. Regardless of how many cars there are or will be built, there will always be more wheels than cars.
I listed whether there are more cars or houses worldwide in this post.
