Which countries in the world have the most roundabouts?

Those who are used to the road know them well: roundabouts, these circular islands that regulate traffic in the countryside or on the outskirts of cities. If you're an experienced traveler, where do you think they have the most?

This is precisely what the car rental site DiscoverCars wanted to know. It collected data from OpenStreetMap to map all the roundabouts in the world.

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The website clarified that, as traffic roundabouts can be formed by independent road sections, the researchers counted each consecutive roundabout within a radius of less than 10 meters as part of one set.

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From this gigantic database, DiscoverCars established several rankings by country: those with the greatest total number of roundabouts, those with the greatest density (per square kilometer), and those with the greatest number per million people residents. These are the results as of 2023.

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With 42,986 roundabouts (more than one per municipality), France is by far the country with the highest number. Besides wine and cheese, France has yet another thing to call itself a world leader for!

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France also holds the record for the highest number of roundabouts per capita, with a figure of 663.8 per million inhabitants.

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Despite the extent of the French territory, the density of roundabouts is also relatively high: with a total of 78.5 per square kilometer, France ranks fourth in the world on this criterion.

The British drive on the left, but they have nothing to envy their neighbors in terms of traffic circles on their territory: the United Kingdom ranks second by total number (25,976) and density (107.4 per square kilometer).

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With 18,172 roundabouts on its territory, Italy completes the podium. The peninsula has 61.5 per square kilometer and 308.7 per million inhabitants.

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Another European country rises to fourth place: It's Spain, with some 15,053 roundabouts. The country totals 30.1 per square kilometer and 316.8 per million inhabitants.

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We now know that Europeans like to go around very much. But there are also a lot of these nifty traffic regulators outside the continent. The first non-European country is Brazil, ranked fifth, with 11,854 roundabouts. The immensity of its territory means that there are only 1.4 per square kilometer.

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With 113.4 roundabouts per square kilometer, the Netherlands are world champion in terms of construction density, surpassing France and the United Kingdom. Not a surprise, if you reckon how small the country is.

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Two other small countries appear in the top 5 with the highest density of roundabouts: Israel (3rd with 81.8 per square kilometer) and Belgium (5th with 67.7).

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If you look at the number of roundabouts per inhabitant, you mostly end up with countries that have low populations combined with a well-developed road network. After France, we find Portugal in second place (473.4 per million inhabitants) and Norway in third place (427.1), followed by Iceland (421) and Ireland (385).

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European domination shows that roundabouts are a construction specific to the Old Continent. Despite their large surfaces and populations, the United States and China have only 8,891 and 3,381, respectively.

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Most roundabouts are anonymous, but some have become world-famous. Think, for example, of the Place de l'Etoile, the 'square of the star' in Paris, whose name refers to the twelve avenues that converge there. On the small island amidst the ocean of automobile lanes stands the imposing Arc de Triomphe. Have a good trip (and don't forget the turn signal)!

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