Bahrain's love affair with cars continues despite challenges

Manama: Bahrain, a country with a total population of 1.1 million people, has 478,184 registered vehicles, official figures indicate.

The number moved up after 23,325 new cars were given the green light in 2011, according to the traffic directorate figures.

However, the number of new cars has decreased by 0.7 per cent over 2010 when 23,487 cars were given road permits.

The decrease is attributed to the period of unrest in the country, the insufficient provision of personal funds by several banks concerned about developments and the re-arrangement of people's priorities during difficult times.

The decrease in the availability of Japanese cars following the tsunami earthquake in March 2011 was seen as another factor in the limited increase in the number of vehicles in Bahrain.

Slightly more than half of the population in Bahrain are foreigners, mainly from Asian countries. However, there are no nationality or income-based restrictions on acquiring local driving licences.