Germans and French people are Europe's most frequent train travelers, according to new statistics from Eurostat. The new data also shows that as many as three out of four trips made by EU citizens take place within their home country. 

The latest statistics contains data from 2017 and estimates that European citizens made 1.3 billion trips with at least one overnight stay during the year. 

The statistics include both business and leisure travel and show that we spent a total of 6.4 billion nights travelling, an increase of four percent compared to 2016. 

Three out of four in the home country

As many as three out of four trips (73%) took place within the borders of their own country, while around a quarter (23%) were trips abroad, according to Eurostat. Of the EU's 28 member states, Romanians, Spaniards, Bulgarians, Greeks and Portuguese were most likely to travel domestically. 

Those who crossed the border and traveled abroad by far the most often were citizens of the small state of Luxembourg (98 percent of trips) followed by Belgians, Swiss, Maltese and Slovenians. 

French and Germans travel by train

The statistics also show that the most common means of transport for travel in 2017 was car (64%) followed by plane (17%), train (11%) and bus (5%). 

Unsurprisingly, citizens from the three island nations of Malta, Cyprus and Ireland were most likely to fly, while the French and Germans are Europe's most frequent train travelers, with 14.6 and 14.4 percent of trips taking place on rails, respectively. 

The Swedes' travels

According to statistics, Swedes travel abroad more often than the EU average and also use flights more often than our European neighbors. However, we use the car less often and rank marginally above average when it comes to train travel. 

Source: svt.se