Road safety statistics in the EU (2024)

The number of persons killed in road traffic accidents fell by 22% between 2012 and 2022

In 2003, the European Commission adopted its third European action programme for road safety, which aimed to halve the number of road deaths by 2010. While the initial target was not quite met by the end of 2010, it was decided to continue with a target of halving the overall number of road deaths in the EU by 2020, starting from 2010. In 2021, the European Commission introduced the EU road safety policy framework 2021-2030 which consist in the ‘Vision Zero’ - zero fatalities and serious injuries on European roads by 2050.

The number of persons killed in road traffic accidents has fallen considerably over the last 20 years: the number of fatalities in theEU Member States fell by 22% between 2012 and 2022. The decrease has been continuous over these years, with the exception of 2015, 2021 and 2022, when increases of 1.0%, 5.8% and 3.7%, respectively were observed compared with the previous years. However, the lockdowns and other restrictions on mobility related to the COVID-19 pandemic across Europe may have had an impact on the number of fatalities in 2020 (-17.2% compared to 2019), as traffic levels were significantly reduced during this time. The target of halving the number of fatalities in 2020 compared with 2010 was not met, despite traffic being significantly reduced in 2020.

In 2022, 86 persons per million inhabitants were killed in road accidents in Romania, the highest in the EU

Figure 2 presents the number of persons killed in road accidents in 2022 per million inhabitants. Overall, the rate of persons killed in road accidents in the EU was 46 per million inhabitants in 2022. There are considerable differences between Member States as well as between EFTA countries. Sweden, Denmark and Ireland reported the lowest numbers, with 22, 26, and 31 fatalities per million inhabitants, respectively. In contrast, Romania had the highest rate with 86 fatalities per million inhabitants.

Among the Member States, 12 registered 50 fatalities or more per million inhabitants, namely Bulgaria, Czechia, Greece, Croatia, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Portugal and Romania. These countries need to prioritize road safety measures to reduce the number and gravity of accidents.Three EFTA countries Norway, Iceland and Switzerland reported relatively low rates of 21, 24 and 28 persons killed in road accidents per million inhabitants in 2022, respectively, while Liechtenstein registered the highest fatalities per million inhabitants with 51.

Figure 3 shows that Malta had the lowest number of persons killed in road accidents in 2012, 2021 and 2022, with only 9, 9 and 26 fatalities, respectively. Meanwhile, Italy had the highest number of fatalities in 2012 (3753 persons killed), and France in 2021 (2931) and in 2022(3260). In 2022, three Member States registered more than 2000 fatalities (compared to five countries in 2012): Germany, France and Italy. Five countries registered less than 100 fatalities: Estonia, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta and Slovenia. Among the EFTA countries, Switzerland registered the highest number of fatalities in all three of these reference years.

All reporting countries registered a significant decrease in the number of persons killed in road accidents between 2012 and 2022, except for three, namely, Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands. Compared with 2021, 15 Member States saw their number of fatalities increased. France, with 329 more fatalities in 2022, registered the highest increase in terms of numbers. Twelve Member States registered a decrease, especially Poland, which registered 349 fatalities less in 2022 compared with 2021.

Men accounted for around three quarters of road accident fatalities between 2012 and 2022

Figure 4 highlights the evolution of road accident fatalities over the years, broken down by sex. Comparing 2012 with 2022, there has been a 17.2% decrease in fatalities involving males and a 21.8% decrease for females.

In 2012, the total number of road accident fatalities was 19198 for males and 5977 for females (with an additional 1312 of unknown sex). This corresponded to 72.5% males and 22.6% females among the fatalities (5% unknown).Over the next few years, there was a gradual decline in the overall numbers. By 2014, the total number of fatalities decreased to 17540 for males and 5578 for females (1010 unknown), maintaining a similar distribution of 72.7% males and 23.1% females (4.2% unknown).However, in 2015 and 2016 there were consecutive increases in male fatalities, which reached 18053 in 2016; in 2016, there was a slight increase in female fatalities to 5715. At the same time, the number of fatalities for which the sex was not reported decreased sharply, from 1054 in 2015 to just 40 cases in 2016.The following years, from 2017 to 2022, showed a relatively stable trend with slight decreases, with only 2020 being an exception due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The total fatalities ranged from 17802 in 2017 to 15512 in 2021 for males and from 5562 in 2017 to 4369 in 2021 for females. A slight increase is then registered in 2022, both for males and females, where the number of fatalities increased to 15901 and 4677, respectively. During this period, the balance between male and female fatalities remained stable, with males accounting for approximately 77% of the fatalities and females for around 23% (unknown around 0.2%).In 2020, with particularly low-traffic levels due to the pandemic, there was a noticeable decrease in the total number of fatalities, with 14677 male fatalities, a 16.2% decrease compared to 2019, and 4124 for female fatalities, a 20.7% decrease compared to 2019. This resulted in a slightly higher proportion of males (77.9%) and lower of females (21.9%) in the overall fatalities in 2020.

Among the Member States and the EFTA countries, Malta (2021 data), Iceland and Lithuania registered the largest decreases in persons killed in road accidents between 2017 and 2022, with decreases of 52.6%, 43.8% and 37.2%, respectively. Only seven countries registered an increase over this period: Estonia, Latvia (2020 data), Portugal, Switzerland, Norway, the Netherlands and Luxembourg with range from 0% to 44.0%. Among males, seven countries recorded increases over this period. Norway, the Netherlands and Switzerland were the countries that recorded the highest increases, with 16.2%, 15.3% and 11.0%, respectively. Among the eight countries that recorded a decrease of 20% or more in male fatalities, Malta and Lithuania recorded the most significant with a 40.0% and 35.6%, respectively. Concerning female fatalities, only four countries registered an increase: Croatia, Latvia, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, with 1.6%, 18.9%, 43.1% and 250.0%, respectively. Five countries recorded decreases of 30% or more, Iceland (-85.7%), Malta (-66.7%) and Lithuania (-41.5%) being the largest.With respect to the total number of fatalities, only three reporting countries registered more than 2000 fatalities in 2022: Germany, France and Italy. These countries accounted for almost half (44.6%) of all fatalities in the EU. However, all of these three countries had registered more than 3000 fatalities in 2017, just five years earlier, which confirms the downward trend. In Greece, Iceland, Italy, Portugal and males accounted for more than 80% of the fatalities in 2022. Concerning females, Luxembourg, Malta, Estonia and Latvia were the only countries where women made up more than 30% of the fatalities (39%, 33%, 33% and 32%, respectively).

In 2022, people aged 25-49 years accounted for one third of road fatalities in the EU

Figure 5 shows that people aged from 25 to 49 years old accounted for the highest percentage of fatalities, representing 32.1% of reported deaths in 2022 (EU - estimated values). This age group is followed by those aged 65 years or over, with 29.0% of fatalities. Together, these two groups represented just over 60% of all road accident fatalities in Europe.

The age group between 50 to 64 years accounted for 22.4% of the total fatalities, while individuals aged 18 to 24 years made up 11.5%. Among younger age groups, the age group 15 to 17 years old represented 2.1% of the total fatalities, and those less than 15 years old for 2.2%.

Table 2 shows that in all EU Member States, people aged less than 18 years old accounted for less than 10% of the fatalities, with the exception of Estonia (12.2%). The age group 65 years old and older recorded the largest number of fatalities in seven Member States and in two EFTA countries: Denmark (34.4%), Germany (36.7%), Malta (33.3%), the Netherlands (42.7%), Austria (32.2%), Slovenia (36.5%), Sweden (36.1%), Norway (32.8%) and Switzerland (37.8%). Among the age group from 50 to 64 years old, Romania registered the largest share of fatalities, with 29.0%, while among the age group 18 to 24 years old, Cyprus registered the largest share of fatalities with 27.0%. Malta is the only country where no fatality was recorded for people aged less than 18 years old.

Passengers or drivers of passenger cars accounted for 44.6% of persons killed in 2022, while pedestrians accounted for 18.1%

Unsurprisingly, drivers and passengers of passenger cars represented the largest category of road traffic deaths in the EU in 2022 (estimated values), with 44.6% of all road traffic fatalities (see Figure 6). Pedestrians (18.1%) was the second largest category, ahead of motorcyclists and their passengers (16.3%). Cyclists and e-bike riders (motorized cyclists) together accounted for 10.1% of EU road deaths in 2022. It should be noted that cycling deaths are under-reported: some accidents involving cyclists are not reported to the police. The remaining vehicle categories together accounted for 10.9% of road accident fatalities in the EU in 2022: persons killed in accidents with light- and heavy-goods vehicles, buses and coaches, mopeds and ‘other’ (essentially, agricultural tractors and other motorised vehicles).

In countries where cycling is widespread, such as the Netherlands, it comes as no surprise that cyclists account for a larger share of fatalities than in countries where cycling is less common. Table 3 shows that cyclists accounted for 21.8% of all road accident deaths in the Netherlands in 2022, followed by Belgium and Slovenia with 18.5% and 12.9%, respectively. At the other end of the scale, cyclists represented just 2.2% of all road accident deaths in Greece in 2021 (no 2022 data available). It should be noted that there were no road accident deaths involving cyclists registered in Malta in 2021 (no 2022 data available) and Luxembourg.

Greece (34.3% – 2021 data) and Italy (24.7%) had the highest shares of motorcyclists among road fatalities in the EU, ahead of Cyprus (24.3%) and Spain (23.0%). The remaining ‘two-wheeled’ category – mopeds – accounted for 6.1% of all road accident fatalities in Estonia, an almost identical share to the next highest country (the Netherlands with 6.0%).In 2022, the number of pedestrians killed in road accidents can still be considered as relatively high: 3723 pedestrians were killed in the EU, accounting for 18.1% of all fatalities. However, this share varies considerably between countries, from around 8.3% in Luxembourg to 44.4% in Malta (2021 data). The share was also around 30% in Romania (32.5%) and Latvia (30.9% – 2020 data).

Rural roads accounted for 52.7% of the fatalities in 2022, while urban roads for 38.2%

The road accident fatalities in the EU have also been classified based on the type of road where the accidents occurred. Rural roads accounted for the highest number of fatalities, with 10858 cases (52.7% of the total - estimated values), followed by urban roads with 7882 fatalities (38.2%). Motorways had the lowest number of fatalities at 1880 (9.1%), and there were a negligible number of fatalities with an unknown road type (only one fatality).

Among the Member States and EFTA countries, 20 countries registered 50% or more fatalities on rural roads. The highest shares were registered in Malta (100.0% – 2021 data), Norway (77.6%), Latvia (69.8% – 2020 data), Sweden (68.7%), and Finland (67.9%). Five Member States recorded shares below 40% of total fatalities for rural roads: Portugal (36.9%), Slovenia (36.5%), Romania (35.4%), Croatia (33.5%) and Cyprus (24.3%). Only seven countries registered shares above 10% for fatalities on motorways, with Slovenia registering the highest share with 29.4% of their total fatalities. No fatalities were registered on motorways in five countries (Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Malta and Norway). The last category, representing the shares of fatalities on urban roads, shows large discrepancies between the reporting countries, with shares from 0% in Malta to 67.6% in Cyprus.

Drivers accounted for more than 66.9% of the fatalities over the period from 2012 to 2022

In 2012, the EU recorded a total of 26487 road accident fatalities (see Figure 8). The number decreased over the following years, reaching its lowest point in 2020 with 18833 fatalities, but increasing slightly to 19916 in 2021, and 20621 in 2022 (2021 and 2022 – estimated value).

Among the different types of road users, drivers consistently accounted for the highest number of fatalities each year (from 60.4% to 66.9%). In 2012, there were 16119 fatalities among drivers, decreasing to 13805 in 2022. Pedestrians had the second-highest number of fatalities, with 5227 in 2012 (19.7% of fatalities), declining to 3723 in 2022 (18.1%). Passengers had the third-highest number of fatalities, starting at 4397 in 2012 (16.6% of all fatalities), decreasing to 3090 fatalities in 2022 (15.0%).

Drivers accounted for more than 50% of deaths on roads in all reporting countries with the exception of Lithuania (47.5%), Romania (46.3%) and Iceland (33.3%). Luxembourg and the Netherlands registered more than 80% of fatalities in this category, with 83.3% and 81.1%, respectively. Passengers represented less than 20% of the fatalities recorded in 21 Member States and two EFTA countries, with the smallest shares registered in Malta (no fatalities among passengers – 2021 data), Belgium (8.0%), Luxembourg (8.3%) and in the EFTA country Switzerland (12.4%). In six Member States, more than 20% of total fatalities concerned passengers: Bulgaria (27.5%), Lithuania (26.7%), Hungary (21.4%), Romania (21.2%), Estonia (20.4%) and Croatia (20.0%). In addition, passengers accounted for 22.2% of road accident fatalities in Iceland in 2022. Pedestrians accounted for almost half of the victims in Malta (44.4% – 2021 data) and more than 30% in Romania (32.5%) and Latvia (30.9% – 2020 data). At the opposite end, only 8.3% of the victims in Luxembourg and 9.5% in the Netherlands were pedestrians.

Six Austrian regions recorded more than 4000 accidents per million inhabitants

Map 1 presents the number of accidents by NUTS2 regions and includes only the accidents with at least one casualty (person injured or killed). Among the regions (at NUTS2 level) with the highest number of accidents per million inhabitants in 2022 were Vorarlberg (AT34), Liguria (ITC3), Tirol (AT33), Kärnten (AT21), and Salzburg (AT32) in Austria and Italy. These regions had road accident rates of 5216, 5210, 4910, 4769 and 4662, respectively. It is worth noting that these regions have relatively higher accident rates compared to other regions. Other regions with notable accident rates include Algarve (PT315), Toscana (ITI1), Oberösterreich (AT31) and Steiermark (AT32), in Portugal, Italy and Austria, with rates of all above 4000 accidents per million inhabitants.

On the other hand, regions with low accident rates include Auvergne (FRK1) in France with 172 accidents per million inhabitants, Podlaskie (PL84) with 293 and Kujawsko-Pomorskie (PL61), with 380, both in Poland. These regions appear to have relatively safer road conditions compared with others. In total, 66 regions (out of 186) recorded less than 1000 accidents per million inhabitants.

Among the 20 NUTS1 regions with the largest numbers of accidents in 2022, six were in Germany, five in Italy, three in Spain and one each in Belgium, Czechia, France, Netherlands, Austria and Portugal. Nordrhein-Westfalen (DEA) was the only region where more than 60000 accidents were recorded in 2022 (63157). Eight regions among this list registered less than 20000 accidents, with Isole (ITG) in place 20 registering 13757 accidents in 2022. All of the regions on this list registered an increase in the number of road accidents compared to 2020, from 5.2% in Baden-Württemberg (DE1) in Germany, to 46.6% in Centro (ITI) in Italy.

Source data for tables and graphs

• Road accident fatalities - 2022

Data sources

The data presented in this article come from the Community database on road accidents resulting in death or injury (CARE) database. EU countries have long collected road accident data via their own national systems. EU-wide road accident data have been available via CARE since 1991.

The purpose of CARE is to provide a tool that makes it possible to identify and quantify road safety problems throughout Europe, evaluate the efficiency of road safety measures, determine the relevance of EU action and facilitate the exchange of experience in this field. Parts of the national data sets have been incorporated into the CARE database with their original national structure and definitions. However, as existing national accident data collection systems are not always compatible or comparable between countries, the European Commission provides and applies transformation rules for the national data sets, allowing CARE to provide compatible data. Eurostat’s reference database uses CARE data in a number of tables linked to road safety. Various tables are available. It is possible that the two sources differ, as there are regular data updates and updating is not synchronised.

Data in this article are limited to the number of persons fatally injured, resulting in death within 30 days of the road accident. Confirmed suicides and natural deaths are not included. Since 2010, all reporting countries apply this rule.

Please note that data referring to the French Départements d’Outre-Mer (overseas territories) and the Portuguese autonomous regions of Açores and Madeira are not available. The ‘fatalities per million inhabitants’ ratio takes this into account.

Context

In response to the growing concern among European citizens over road safety, the European Union made this issue a priority of its common transport policy set out in the 2001 White Paper on transport: European transport policy for 2010: time to decide and its mid-term review in 2006 (Keep Europe moving — Sustainable mobility for our continent). In the White Paper, the European Commission set the target of halving the number of road fatalities between 2000 and 2010. A variety of measures helped to cut the total road number of deaths by 44% between 2000 and 2010. The target of halving the 2000 number was reached in 2012.

Following on from that, the 2011 White Paper Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area — Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system set out 40 practical measures for the next decade. On road traffic, the Commission adopted an ambitious road safety programme that aimed to cut road deaths in Europe in half between 2010 and 2020. The programme set out a mix of initiatives, at European and national level, focusing on improving vehicle safety, the safety of infrastructure and road users’ behaviour.