Table 1 below lists the total of plates issued in 2020 for each general category of plates. The data was gathered by myself, taking note of the number of plates issued each day in each category and format.
|
Categories
|
Indexes / letters
|
Yearly
total
|
Monthly
average
|
|
Ordinary plates
|
1
|
842,113
|
70,176.1
|
|
Diplomatic
|
CD
|
1,720
|
143.3
|
|
Tractors
|
G
|
4,272
|
356.0
|
|
Motorcycles
|
M
|
78,892
|
6,574.3
|
|
Oldtimers
|
O
|
23,404
|
1,950.3
|
|
Trailers
|
Q
|
38,940
|
3,245.0
|
|
Scooters
|
S
|
64,517
|
5,376.4
|
|
Paid transportation
|
T
|
1,345
|
112.1
|
|
Temporary
|
W
|
403
|
33.6
|
|
Export
|
X
|
8,603
|
716.9
|
|
Dealers
|
Z
|
4,612
|
384.3
|
|
Road tests
|
ZZ
|
3,318
|
276.5
|
|
ALL
|
|
1,072,139
|
89,344.9
|
Table 1. Amount of plates issued in 2020 for each general category.
Unsurprisingly, the overall amount of plates issued in 2020 is inferior to that of 2019 (1,183,394 plates), coming down to a 9.4% decrease, which can be largely attributed to the Coronavirus crisis, which led to the shutdown of public services like the DIV and insurance companies, as well as to a decrease of car sales in general. Besides, since most pre-2010 non-European format plates have disappeared, the need to switch to a European format plate is still smaller than before.
The largest category is that of ordinary plates, representing 78.5% of all plates issued in 2020. Motorcycles make up the second largest category, followed rather closely by scooters. Trailers are next, but far from the podium, preceding oldtimers in numbers. Export plates constitute a significant category, while temporary plates were the rarest in 2020.
It is possible to make comparisons with 2019 by taking a look at Table 2:
|
Categories
|
Indexes / letters
|
2019
|
2020
|
Difference
|
%
|
|
Ordinary plates
|
1
|
954,277
|
842,113
|
-112,164
|
-11.8%
|
|
Diplomatic
|
CD
|
1,903
|
1,720
|
-183
|
-9.6%
|
|
Tractors
|
G
|
4,054
|
4,272
|
218
|
5.4%
|
|
Motorcycles
|
M
|
73,049
|
78,892
|
5,843
|
8%
|
|
Oldtimers
|
O
|
23,942
|
23,404
|
-538
|
-2.2%
|
|
Trailers
|
Q
|
42,322
|
38,940
|
-3,382
|
-8%
|
|
Scooters
|
S
|
60,273
|
64,517
|
4,244
|
7%
|
|
Paid transportation
|
T
|
2,639
|
1,345
|
-1,294
|
-49%
|
|
Temporary
|
W
|
830
|
403
|
-427
|
-51.4%
|
|
Export
|
X
|
14,950
|
8,603
|
-6,347
|
-42.5%
|
|
Dealers
|
Z
|
2,860
|
4,612
|
1,752
|
61.3%
|
|
Road tests
|
ZZ
|
2,295
|
3,318
|
1,023
|
44.6%
|
|
ALL
|
|
1,183,394
|
1,072,139
|
-111,255
|
-9.4%
|
Table 2. Amounts of plates issued in 2019 and 2020.
The 'Difference' column substracts the 2020 numbers to the 2019 amounts; the '%' column translates that into percentages.
Overall, 9.4% fewer plates were issued in 2020 than in 2019. Some categories have undergone a decrease, while others have benefited from an increase.
One of the most sizeable 'losses' can be attributed to the 'paid transportation services' category, i.e. including taxis and rental cars with chauffeur. This might be an effect of the crisis, but also of the arrival of Uber services in Brussels (although this company is now forbidden to operate there), possibly discouraging the registration of new taxis. Besides, there had been a peak in rental cars with chauffeur registrations in the past years, probably for tax evasion reasons (i.e. people had set up so-called rental companies in order not to pay registration taxes, but rent the cars to themselves).
As a result of the borders shutdown in March, April and May, together with the shutdown of the DIV offices (including the one specialized in W and X plates), far fewer export and temporary plates were issued in 2020.
The decrease in registered ordinary vehicles, diplomatic cars and trailers can be linked with the Covid-19 crisis. However, the decrease of oldtimer vehicles is almost marginal, as nearly the same amount of such vehicles were issued, give or take a few hundreds.
As far as increases are concerned, more tractors were registered, just like motorcycles: it is likely that more people decided to buy and register a bike after the first wave of the pandemic, when restrictions were lifted, in order to enjoy more freedom. The same can be said about scooters, which were even more popular than last year.
Finally, strong increases can be singled out for dealer plates and road test plates; several extra thousands of such plates were issued in January, for unknown reasons. Such plates will start disappearing over the course of 2021, as they will be replaced by plates with index letters V, Y and Z, depending on their uses, from 4 January 2021 onwards.
Would you like more of such statistical analyses? Would you like to comment on the data? Do not hesitate to post a comment under this post!
Needless to say, reproduction of my data anywhere else without my written permission is forbidden, as this text is copyrighted (© SL 2021).
