at least here those always look like a very bad deal, you pay for the car but do not get to keep it and never get to own it
It really depends on what you want out of a car, how much you travel etc. Not keeping the car at the end isn't necessarily a bad thing. In Australia at least, you have the option to pay a balloon payment at the end. We also have pre/post tax contributions with leasing. It looks a bit funny on the books, but it can be cheaper over the life of the lease.
If you only drive to the shops 5kms down the road and to the pool, a beater is fine. But if you do any sort of distance, having a lease for 4-5 years and then handing back the high mileage car can work out better. People do also like to get rid of cars just before they start ****ting major components, 5-7 years is kinda when you start to get to that stage (a lot of cars will go well beyond this, but I am not getting stuck in the middle of no where after a 12 hour shift when I have to be back at work in 11 hours).
Leasing is also good for company and/or work vehicles generally for the aforementioned and some other reasons.
I personally don't lease my vehicle simply because it would tie me into my job and reduce my flexibility, but my last purchase was an ex demo, that I bought at the end of the manufacturer period so I got a decent enough discount to offset the interest on taking out a loan for it. I will keep it for 4-5 years and probably go back to a cheap car (Suzuki Sierra LWB) as I plan to be at a stage where I do a lot less driving.
But yeah this wont be the same in other countries but there are reasons to lease cars.