4 in 10 Adults Lack Crucial Skill for Bike-First Future

In addition to the digital skills that will be needed in the future, certain physical skills could be useful to adapt to a changing world too. The writers of the OECD Skills Outlook 2023: Skills for a Resilient Green and Digital Transition note how cycling is not only beneficial for reducing the number of cars on the road and the subsequent GHG emissions produced, but as extreme heat becomes more prevalent, it could also offer a more efficient way for people to travel medium-length trips than walking, reducing prolonged exposure to heat. This will be particularly important, they note, for people who may not have access to a car.

But, as survey data from Ipsos shows, some countries are further along in their cycling uptake than others: Where 83 percent of respondents in Poland said that they knew how to ride a bicycle in 2022, the figure was just 36 percent among respondents in Saudi Arabia. That’s not to say that Saudis would not like to cycle more and that this will not change, as shown in this chart, where eight in ten respondents said that they would support new road and traffic infrastructure projects for bikes over cars in their area.

Among Americans who cycled for transportation purposes in 2022, young people between three and 17 years old were more likely to ride their bike regularly than adults who were more likely to ride their bike for transport only occasionally. According to a 2022 survey, half of adults, who cycled for transport, had only cycled on one to five days in the previous twelve months.

Perception of bicycling in the U.S. 2022

More than half of U.S. Americans worry about being hit by a motor vehicle when riding a bike, according to an October 2022 survey. Only 17 percent of respondents reported that they felt safer cycling at the time of survey than they did five years ago. Yet, over half of respondents said cycling is a convenient way for them to travel in their area.

Frequency of cycling per year among bike riders in the United States in 2022

Among U.S. Americans who had cycled in the previous 12 months, around half were infrequent riders, according to an October 2022 survey, cycling 12 days per year or less. 15 percent of cyclists indicated that they rode a bike 104 days per year or more.

Number of roads available for cycling in South Korea in 2022

According to a report on the state of bicycle roads in South Korea, almost a third of all the roads available for cycling were concentrated in the Gyeonggi province as of 2022. In total, there were around 17.3 thousand bicycle roads in the country, which was an increase of about 1.2 thousand compared to 2021. Of all the "bicycle roads", about 83.1 percent of them were sidewalks meant for use by both bicycles and pedestrians.

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