Data extracted in May 2025.

Planned article update: September 2026.

Transport statistics at regional level

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Data extracted in May 2025.

Planned article update: September 2026.

Highlights

Road accidents killed 20 617 people across the EU in 2023. The northern Italian region of Lombardia recorded the highest number of road deaths among NUTS level 2 regions (377 deaths), followed by the Italian capital region of Lazio (346 deaths).

In 2023, the French capital region of Ile-de-France – home to Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly airports – recorded the highest number of air passengers among EU regions, with 99.7 million people carried.

Transport is vital to the EU economy: it supports global supply chains and daily life, enabling the free movement of people and goods within the EU’s single market. However, transport also imposes considerable negative externalities in the form of societal, environmental and material costs, such as greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, noise, congestion and injuries/fatalities from accidents. With the transport sector accounting for around 25% of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions, EU transport policy seeks to promote environmentally friendly, safe and efficient travel through integrated networks.

The EU’s Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy (COM(2020) 789 final) part of The European Green Deal sets out policy initiatives to achieve a greener and more resilient transport system that remains accessible, affordable and inclusive, while promoting high levels of safety and security across all modes of transport. Within the strategy, there are a number of key milestones, including:

  • 30 million zero-emission cars in use by 2030
  • a doubling of high-speed rail traffic by 2030
  • nearly all new cars, vans, buses and heavy-duty vehicles to be zero-emission by 2050
  • a fully operational, multimodal Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) connecting Europe sustainably by 2050
  • zero-emission large aircraft ready for market by 2050.

The passenger car transformed personal mobility, granting freedom and flexibility while playing a crucial role in economic development. It also carries cultural significance – symbolising status and progress for some, while others choose to forego the use of a car. As the EU transitions towards greener technologies, the passenger car remains central to sustainability and innovation debates.

In 2023, the EU had 256 million registered passenger cars, of which electric vehicles made up 1.7%. On average, there were 9.9 electric cars per 1 000 inhabitants across the EU (see the infographic above). The highest motorisation rate across EU regions was in the Flevoland (central Netherlands), with 141.7 electric cars per 1 000 inhabitants – this high value may reflect, at least in part, the presence of vehicle leasing companies headquartered in the region. Prov. Vlaams-Brabant in Belgium (54.5 electric cars per 1 000 inhabitants) and Provincia Autonoma di Trento in Italy (49.5 per 1 000 inhabitants) had the 2nd and 3rd highest rates. These figures may reflect specific regional characteristics, such as favourable tax schemes, subsides for new vehicle registrations and local policies supporting the expansion of charging infrastructure, all of which make electric vehicle registration/ownership more attractive in these regions.

The selection of information presented for regional transport statistics within the Eurostat regional yearbook changes on an annual basis (covering different modes of transport and focusing on different passenger/freight indicators). Previous editions of the publication can be found at the bottom of this webpage.


Road transport and accidents

Roads are by far the most common transport mode in the EU for passenger and inland freight transport. The EU’s Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy – putting European transport on track for the future (COM(2020) 789 final) underlines that, although road mobility provides a wide range of benefits to people living in the EU, these are not without costs (for society at large). These externalities include, among other issues, greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, accidents and congestion. The Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy identifies 10 flagship areas and a range of intermediate targets for 2030 and 2040 in order to help achieve the EU’s ambitious goal of becoming the ‘first climate-neutral continent by 2050’. As part of this work, the EU has set itself a target, namely, to ensure that at least 30 million zero-emission vehicles are operating on its roads by 2030.

Electric passenger cars

Within the EU, the stock of electric passenger cars reached 4.4 million in 2023; accounting for 1.73% of all passenger cars. The relative importance of electric passenger cars was highest in the Nordic countries, Benelux countries, Austria and Germany. By contrast, electric passenger cars made up a relatively small share of the total stock in most southern and eastern regions of the EU.

The uptake of electric passenger cars reflects, among other factors, income levels, price differentials between electric and other vehicles, subsidies and incentives, infrastructure investment, battery technology, fuel prices, urban policies, the availability and cost of public transport, and environmental consciousness.

During the most recent decade for which data are available, the number of electric cars in the EU has shown remarkable growth:

  • their total number passed the threshold of 1.0 million vehicles by 2020 and more than 3.0 million by 2022
  • the highest annual growth rates occurred in 2020 and 2021, when the number of electric passenger cars increased 85.3% and 77.5%, respectively
  • in absolute terms, the largest annual increase was recorded in 2023, as the number of electric passenger cars rose by 1.4 million.

In 2023, the regional distribution of the share of electric cars among all passenger cars was slightly skewed: in 121 out of the 215 NUTS regions with available data, in other words, 56.3% of the regions, the share of electric passenger cars was below the EU average. Map 1 shows that this share was relatively homogeneous within most EU countries, suggesting that factors such as national subsidies and incentives or other national factors likely play an important role in determining the uptake of these vehicles. For example, every region in Vlaams Gewest (northern Belgium), Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria and Sweden recorded a share above the EU average, while Budapest – the capital region of Hungary – was the only region across all of the eastern EU countries to do so.

A total of 17 regions reported that electric cars made up at least 4.00% of all passenger cars (as shown by the darkest shade of blue in Map 1):

  • the largest number were located in Denmark (all 5 regions) and Sweden (5 out of 8 regions), including the capital regions of Hovedstaden and Stockholm
  • there were 3 regions in the Netherlands, among them the capital region of Noord-Holland
  • there were 2 regions in Belgium, including the capital region of Région de Bruxelles-Capitale / Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest
  • this group also included the Finnish capital region of Helsinki-Uusimaa
  • and Luxembourg.

At the top end of the distribution, the central Dutch region of Flevoland recorded by far the highest share of electric cars in 2023, at 17.07%. This unusually high figure may reflect the presence of vehicle leasing companies based in the region, which register large fleets of electric vehicles and thereby inflate the number of registrations relative to the size of the regional population. The Swedish capital region of Stockholm (10.74%) was the only other region in the EU to record a double-digit share, followed by Hovedstaden in Denmark (8.64%) and Prov. Vlaams-Brabant in Belgium (7.60%).

At the lower end of the distribution, 46 regions reported that electric cars accounted for fewer than 0.25% of all passenger cars in 2023; these are shown by the lightest shade of yellow in Map 1. This group was largely concentrated within Czechia (5 out of 8 regions), Greece (11 of 13), Poland (14 of 17) and Slovakia (3 of 4). There was also a cluster in southern Italy (6 regions), while the remainder of the group consisted of 4 regions from Spain, 2 regions from Romania, as well as a single region from Croatia.

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Map 1: Electric passenger cars
Source: Eurostat (tran_r_elvehst) and (tran_r_vehst)


Electric recharging points

Regulation (EU) 2023/1804 on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure aims to support the EU’s climate goals by ensuring the coordinated roll-out of alternative fuels infrastructure and a smooth transition to renewable (‘zero-carbon’) fuels. The regulation emphasises the need to increase the capacity of public recharging points for electric cars across the EU, alongside stimulating the deployment of fast charging stations and dedicated infrastructure for heavy-duty vehicles. It sets binding targets for EU countries, including minimum fast-charging densities on some of the EU’s principal routes by 2025 and a total of 3.5 million semi-public or public charging units by 2030.

The majority of recharging points in the EU are concentrated in predominantly urban regions, leaving rural areas and inter-city routes less well-served. Cross-border travel by electric car may be hindered by fragmented payment systems and varying standards, although ongoing efforts aim to improve the interoperability of the EU’s charging network.

In 2023, there were 145 600 semi-public and public electric recharging points across the EU, with a combined capacity of 5.4 million kilowatts (kW). Relative to the fleet of electric vehicles, each charging point provided an average capacity of 1.1 kW per vehicle. It is important to note that across the EU the predominant modes of recharging are private charging at home, followed by workplace charging, while semi-public and public recharging points are used less frequently. When people recharge their electric vehicles at home or work, the charging outlets typically have lower power output, resulting in longer charging durations but lower costs compared with faster, more expensive public charging points.

Semi-public and public electric charging infrastructure is unevenly distributed across the EU. In urban parts of some western EU countries – such as across Germany, France, the Netherlands and Austria – the network of charging points is relatively dense, reflecting the large stock of electric vehicles in relatively small areas; this was also the case in several regions across northern Belgium and northern Italy. By contrast, eastern EU countries generally have fewer charging points, although these often provide higher recharging capacity.

In 2023, there were 42 700 semi-public or public recharging points in the Netherlands, equivalent to 29.3% of the EU total. More than 1 in 5 points were located in Germany (21.8%), while France (12.2%) and Italy (10.0%) were the only other countries with double-digit shares. In terms of capacity, Germany’s semi-public or public recharging infrastructure delivered 1.6 million kW of power to their network (equivalent to 30.3% of the EU total); France (15.5%) and the Netherlands (13.0%) were the only other countries with double-digit shares.

Map 2 shows the average charging capacity per electric vehicle (denoted in kW). In 2023, approximately 2 out of 3 EU regions for which data are available – 133 out of 198 (67.2%) – recorded a rate above the EU average of 1.1 kW per electric vehicle. This group included:

  • every region in Czechia, Slovenia and Slovakia
  • all but 2 regions in Italy (with Provincia Autonoma di Trento and Valle d’Aosta/Vallée d’Aoste being the exceptions)
  • all but 1 region in Austria (with the capital region of Wien being the exception)
  • Bulgaria (only national data available), Estonia, Cyprus and Latvia.

Note that some regions with high rates of charging capacity per electric vehicle may have relatively few electric vehicles, with charging points installed primarily to ensure minimum coverage across large, sparsely populated areas.

By contrast, in 2023, the average recharging capacity per electric vehicle was below the EU average in every region of Ireland, as well as in Denmark, Greece, Portugal (for all of which only national data are available), Luxembourg and Malta.

The Slovak regions of Stredné Slovensko (6.4 kW per electric vehicle), Západné Slovensko (6.2 kW) and Východné Slovensko (5.3 kW) recorded the highest average recharging capacities per electric vehicle across the EU in 2023. The next highest value was observed in the western Polish region of Lubuskie (5.1 kW). There were 12 other EU regions where the average capacity was at least 4.0 kW per electric vehicle: half of these were in Italy, while the remainder included 3 Spanish regions, 2 regions in Czechia and an additional Polish region.

At the other end of the range, 3 EU regions recorded an average capacity of less than 0.05 kW per electric vehicle. These included 2 southern French regions – Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur – as well as the Finnish archipelago of Åland.

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Map 2: Electric recharging points
Source: Eco-Movement, Eurostat (GISCO) and Eurostat (tran_r_elvehst), (road_eqs_carpda), (road_eqs_busmot) and (road_eqs_lormot)


Road freight transport

The road freight transport sector is a key part of modern economies, offering vital services that link producers, traders and consumers. It supports supply chains, enables regional trade and adapts to evolving demands such as digital logistics, green mobility and just-in-time delivery systems.

More about the data: road freight statistics

Road freight transport statistics relate to transport by heavy goods vehicles registered in any of the EU countries. Transport by light goods vehicles is excluded. The threshold for inclusion as a heavy goods vehicle may be based on the load capacity (maximum permissible weight of goods) or the legally permissible maximum weight (the vehicle, the load, the driver and other persons carried). Some countries have a somewhat broader coverage as they apply lower inclusion thresholds.

A tonne-kilometre is a unit of measure of freight transport which represents the transport of 1 tonne of goods (including packaging and tare weights of intermodal transport units) by a given transport mode (road, rail, air, sea, inland waterways, pipeline and so on) over a distance of 1 kilometre.

Regional statistics for road freight transport should be interpreted with care as the data presented may reflect, to some extent, the size of each region, as those regions characterised by a large area normally transport more freight. In a similar vein, those regions that are characterised by transporting bulk products that tend to weigh a lot (such as raw materials) are also likely to report higher values. The information presented in this section refers to those regions where goods were unloaded.

In 2023, the total weight of goods transported by heavy goods vehicles registered in the EU was 13.1 billion tonnes. When taking account of the distance travelled for each transport operation, the transport performance of the EU’s road freight transport sector was 1 857 billion tonne-kilometres (tkm).

In 2023, some of the most populous regions of the EU had the highest volumes of road freight unloaded by EU-registered vehicles. A peak was recorded in the eastern Spanish region of Cataluña (42.8 billion tkm of road freight unloaded). Lombardia in northern Italy and Andalucía in southern Spain also had high levels, at 39.7 billion tkm and 34.1 billion tkm, respectively. There were 8 regions with road freight performance within the range of 22.1 billion tkm to 30.0 billion tkm:

  • the Spanish regions of Comunitat Valenciana and Comunidad de Madrid
  • the Italian regions of Veneto and Emilia-Romagna
  • the Polish regions of Wielkopolskie and Śląskie
  • the French regions of Rhône-Alpes and Ile-de-France.

In 2023, the north-eastern Spanish region of Aragón had the highest level of road freight transport per inhabitant

When expressed in relation to the number of inhabitants in each region, Aragón in north-east Spain recorded the highest level of road freight unloaded per inhabitant in 2023, at 10 300 tkm. Despite its relatively small population, Aragón serves as a logistics hub for freight traffic along key east–west and north–south corridors that link, among other places, Spain’s 2 largest cities, as well as northern Spain with France and the rest of Europe.

The next highest levels of road freight transport – ranging from 8 000 tkm to 8 500 tkm per inhabitant in 2023 – were observed in 2 more Spanish regions, Castilla-La Mancha and Comunidad Foral de Navarra, the German regions of Kassel and Bremen, and the Swedish region of Övre Norrland.

An additional 16 regions across the EU recorded an average of at least 6 500 tkm of road freight unloaded per inhabitant (as shown by the darkest shade of blue in Map 3):

  • the Belgian region of Prov. West-Vlaanderen
  • the Czech region of Střední Čechy
  • the German regions of Sachsen-Anhalt, Brandenburg, Oberpfalz and Weser-Ems
  • the Spanish regions of Castilla y León and La Rioja
  • the Polish regions of Wielkopolskie, Lubuskie, Łódzkie, Podlaskie and Mazowiecki regionalny
  • the Finnish region of Pohjois- ja Itä-Suomi
  • the Swedish regions of Småland med öarna and Mellersta Norrland.

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Map 3: Road freight transport
Source: Eurostat (Transport statistics) and Eurostat (demo_r_d2jan)


Road fatalities

As noted above, while transport mobility brings many benefits, it also comes with environmental and societal costs – including greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, congestion and accidents – all of which impact our health and well-being.

In a statistical context, the number of road fatalities refers to people who died immediately in a road traffic accident or within 30 days as a result of injuries sustained in a road traffic accident. In 2023, there were 20 617 road fatalities across the EU’s territory, equivalent to 46 deaths per million inhabitants.

The EU’s roads are among the safest in the world. In October 2021, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the EU Road Safety Policy Framework 2021–2030 – Recommendations on next steps towards ‘Vision Zero’ (2021/2014), reaffirming the EU’s commitment to reduce the number of road deaths to near zero by 2050. The strategy set an intermediate target of halving the number of road fatalities and serious injuries between 2019 and 2030.

Lombardia (northern Italy) had the highest number of road fatalities – 377 deaths in 2023 …

In 2023, the northern Italian region of Lombardia recorded the highest number of road fatalities among NUTS level 2 regions, with 377 deaths – 25 fewer than in 2022. The only other regions in the EU where the number of road fatalities reached at least 300 were:

  • Lazio, the Italian capital region (346 deaths)
  • Andalucía in southern Spain (310)
  • Veneto in northern Italy (309)
  • Rhône-Alpes in southern France (308).

At the other end of the range, 6 NUTS level 2 regions recorded fewer than 10 road fatalities in 2023. The sparsely populated Åland archipelago in Finland and the small Spanish autonomous region of Ciudad de Melilla were the only regions in the EU to report no road fatalities – the 2nd consecutive year without any such fatalities for Åland. The other regions with fewer than 10 deaths were:

  • Ciudad de Ceuta in Spain (1 death)
  • Valle d’Aosta/Vallée d’Aoste in northern Italy (5)
  • the Belgian capital region of Région de Bruxelles-Capitale / Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest (6)
  • the French outermost region of Mayotte (7).

… while Severozapaden (Bulgaria) had the highest incidence rate – 166 road fatalities per million inhabitants

In 2023, the EU recorded 46 road fatalities per million inhabitants. These fatalities were relatively evenly distributed: 123 out of 234 NUTS level 2 regions (or 52.6% of all regions) reported a rate above the EU average, 104 had a value that was below, while there were 7 regions that had the same number of road fatalities per million inhabitants as the EU average.

Map 4 highlights that several rural/peripheral regions of the EU reported some of the highest incidence rates for road fatalities. In 2023, 7 NUTS level 2 regions recorded at least 100 fatalities per million inhabitants (as shown by the darkest shade of blue in the map). These regions were mostly clustered in the south-east corner of the EU. The highest rates were observed in:

  • Bulgaria – Severozapaden recorded the highest rate in the EU, with 166 road fatalities per million inhabitants; the neighbouring region of Severen tsentralen also reported a high rate (107 fatalities per million inhabitants)
  • Greece – the island regions of Ionia Nisia (120 fatalities per million inhabitants) and Notio Aigaio (119 fatalities per million inhabitants)
  • France – the outermost region of Guyane (117 fatalities per million inhabitants)
  • Romania – Sud-Vest Oltenia (107 fatalities per million inhabitants) and Sud-Est (102 fatalities per million inhabitants).

By contrast, urban and capital regions tended to report much lower incidences of road fatalities. This may reflect factors such as more extensive public transport networks, lower motorisation rates and lower average speeds – for example, due to stricter speed limits in built-up areas or frequent congestion on urban motorway networks.

In 2023, 26 NUTS level 2 regions recorded fewer than 25 deaths per million inhabitants (they are presented in the lightest yellow shade in Map 4). As noted above, 2 regions reported no road fatalities at all: Åland (Finland) and Ciudad de Melilla (Spain). Leaving these atypical cases aside, most of these 26 regions were urban areas, with 11 of them being capital regions. Among those with the lowest incidence rates were:

  • Région de Bruxelles-Capitale / Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest in Belgium (5 road fatalities per million inhabitants)
  • Wien in Austria (6 fatalities per million inhabitants)
  • Berlin in Germany (9 fatalities per million inhabitants).

Across the EU, there were 51 road fatalities per million inhabitants in 2019. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, widespread travel restrictions and stay-at-home measures contributed to a notable fall in road traffic deaths, as the rate fell to 42 deaths per million inhabitants in 2020. As restrictions were (partially) lifted, the fatality rate rose to 45 deaths per million inhabitants in 2021 and the upward development continued – albeit at a slower pace – in 2022, reaching 46 deaths per million inhabitants; the same level was repeated in 2023.

Looking in more detail, some regions appeared several times among those with the highest incidence rates of road fatalities during the period 2019 to 2023. In 2019, the highest rates were recorded in the Belgian region of Prov. Luxembourg (169 deaths per million inhabitants), Mazowiecki regionalny in Poland (134), Severozapaden in Bulgaria (123) and Guyane in France (also 123). The following year, Mazowiecki regionalny recorded the highest rate (128 deaths per million inhabitants), followed by the French outermost regions of Guadeloupe (123) and Guyane (115). In 2021, Guadeloupe recorded the highest rate (157 deaths per million inhabitants), ahead of Severozapaden (141) and Guyane (121). In 2022, there was a notable change, as the highest rates were observed in the Greek regions of Notio Aigaio (132 deaths per million inhabitants) and Ionia Nisia (129), along with the Bulgarian region of Severen tsentralen (128).

During the period under consideration (2019 to 2023), several EU regions made notable progress in reducing their incidence rate for road fatalities. It is important to note that in smaller regions, even a few additional/fewer road deaths can lead to marked fluctuations in rates per million inhabitants. From 2019 to 2020, the largest decreases were recorded in Åland (Finland), Prov. Luxembourg and Burgenland (Austria). In the following year, the biggest falls were observed in Molise (Italy), Burgenland and Dytiki Elláda (Greece). Between 2021 and 2022, the largest decreases in fatality rates were seen in Guadeloupe, Åland and Peloponnisos (Greece). From 2022 to 2023, Prov. Namur (Belgium), Ciudad de Melilla (Spain) and Sterea Elláda (Greece) registered the biggest decreases.

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Map 4: Road fatalities
(per million inhabitants, by NUTS 2 regions, 2019–23)
Source: Eurostat (tran_r_acci) and (tran_sf_roadus)



Road accidents

In 2023, there were 868 800 accidents on the EU’s roads that resulted in a death or injury; this total excludes information for Ireland, Greece, Cyprus, Latvia, Malta and Sweden. Some of the highest numbers of road accidents were, unsurprisingly, recorded in relatively large and densely populated regions:

  • Lombardia recorded the most accidents in Italy (29 200 accidents)
  • Cataluña had the highest number in Spain (23 600)
  • Ile-de-France recorded the most accidents in France (15 900); note that for France, data are only available for NUTS level 1 regions
  • Nordrhein-Westfalen had the highest count in Germany (63 300); note that for Germany, data are only available for NUTS level 1 regions.

More about the data: road accident statistics

The information presented in this section on transport accidents comes from the Community database on road accidents (CARE), which is managed by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport.

CARE contains information on road crashes that lead to death or injury; as such, it does not contain information on damage-only crashes, where there are no fatalities or injuries. Its main purpose is to provide evidence to identify and quantify road safety problems throughout the EU, evaluate the efficiency of road safety measures, determine the relevance of EU actions and facilitate the exchange of experiences in this field.

Road accident statistics also include fatalities and injuries in vehicles which are in transit through a region as well as fatalities and injuries of non-residents staying in a region on holiday, for business or another reason. As such, and other things being equal, regions that have transit corridors or regions with high numbers of visitors may well experience a higher incidence of fatalities and injuries.

The regional statistics presented in this section for Germany and France concern NUTS level 1 regions, while the latest information for Portugal concerns national data.

Map 5 shows the incidence of road accidents in 2023. When expressed in relation to the number of motor vehicles, there were, on average, 2.8 accidents per 1 000 motor vehicles across the EU. The regional distribution of road accidents was asymmetrical, with approximately 40% of regions (68 out of the 171 for which data are available) recording an accident rate above the EU average, while 98 regions had a lower-than-average incidence; 5 regions recorded a rate equal to the EU average.

In 2023, the highest road accident rates – at least 5.0 accidents per 1 000 motor vehicles (as shown by the darkest shade of blue in Map 5) – were mainly concentrated in western EU countries, with relatively high values in several regions across Belgium, Germany (NUTS level 1 regions) and Austria. Rates above this threshold were also recorded in 2 Croatian regions, 2 Spanish regions and 1 Italian region; this was also the case for Portugal (national data).

The German capital region of Berlin (NUTS level 1) had the highest accident rate among EU regions in 2023, with an average of 9.2 accidents per 1 000 motor vehicles; this was 3.3 times as high as the EU average. Berlin was followed by the 2 other German city states (also NUTS level 1): Bremen (8.4) and Hamburg (8.2). The next highest rates were observed in 2 of Austria’s Alpine regions, namely, Vorarlberg (7.3) and Tirol (7.1).

Across all EU regions, the number of road accidents per 1 000 motor vehicles ranged from a high of 9.2 in Berlin, down to lows of 0.4 in the Polish regions of Podlaskie and Warszawski stołeczny (the capital region). As such, relative to the number of motor vehicles, the likelihood of having a road crash that resulted in a fatality or injury was 23 times as high in Berlin as it was in either of these 2 Polish regions.

Across the EU, the incidence rate for road accidents per 1 000 motor vehicles fell from 3.1 in 2019 to 2.4 in 2020, reflecting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. As restrictions were (partially) lifted, the rate increased to 2.6 accidents per 1 000 motor vehicles in 2021 and it continued to rise, reaching 2.8 in 2022; the rate remained stable in 2023.

Throughout the period from 2019 to 2023, Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg consistently reported the highest incidence rates for road accidents among NUTS level 2 regions. At the same time, several EU regions achieved notable decreases in their road accident rates. From 2019 to 2020, the largest declines were seen in the Spanish autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, as well as in Bremen (despite its persistently high rate) and Liguria. In 2021, the largest decreases were recorded in Latvia, Berlin (also among the regions with the highest rates) and Zeeland (the Netherlands). The following year, Ciudad de Melilla, Notio Aigaio (Greece) and Åland (Finland) reported the largest decreases. Between 2022 and 2023, the most rapid falls in accident rates were observed in Malta, Sterea Elláda (Greece) and Sydsverige (Sweden).


Map 5: Road accidents
(per 1 000 motor vehicles, by NUTS 2 regions, 2019–23)
Source: Eurostat (tran_sf_roadnu) and (tran_r_vehst)


Air traffic

In recent decades, liberalisation measures have contributed to the (rapid) growth of low-cost airlines and the expansion of smaller regional airports; the latter are typically less congested and charge lower landing fees than major international hubs.

The regional statistics presented in this section generally refer to airports handling more than 150 000 passenger units per year. It is also worth noting that some EU regions – for example, the capital region of France – host multiple airports within their boundaries, while others have none. Based on this specific subset of airports, there were 1.4 billion air passengers carried in the EU during 2023.

The French capital region of Ile-de-France – home to Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly airports – had 99.7 million air passengers in 2023

In 2023, 37 NUTS level 2 regions (out of 168 for which data are available) recorded at least 10.0 million air passengers carried. These regions were often located in capital regions and other major economic centres across some of the EU’s largest countries, as well as in regions with popular holiday destinations.

The left-hand side of Figure 1 highlights the 20 regions in the EU that had the highest counts of air passengers in 2023. The French capital region of Ile-de-France had the largest number, at 99.7 million air passengers carried. The Dutch capital region of Noord-Holland – home to Amsterdam Schiphol airport – had the 2nd highest number (61.9 million), followed by the Spanish capital region of Comunidad de Madrid, where Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport is located (60.1 million).

This group of 20 regions included:

  • 9 capital regions, namely, those of France, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Denmark and Sweden
  • 5 more regions located in Spain – Cataluña (which has a high number of tourists, but is also an economic hub), as well as the major tourist destinations of Canarias, Illes Balears, Andalucía and Comunitat Valenciana
  • 3 regions in Germany – Darmstadt (home to Frankfurt Main airport), Oberbayern (home to Munich’s Franz Josef Strauss International airport) and Brandenburg (home to Berlin Brandenburg Airport Willy Brandt)
  • 1 more region in Italy – Lombardia (that includes the city of Milano)
  • 1 region in Austria – Niederösterreich (home to Wien–Schwechat airport)
  • 1 more region in France – Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (with many tourist destinations).

Figure 1 also provides information on the 20 NUTS level 2 regions in the EU with the highest increases in passenger numbers between 2019 and 2023 – in other words, comparing the situation before the COVID-19 pandemic with the latest available data. The number of air passengers carried increased by 11.7 million during this period in the eastern German region of Brandeburg. This rapid increase largely reflects the consolidation of air traffic at Berlin Brandenburg airport after 2020, following the closure of Berlin-Tegel airport in November 2020.

Air passenger numbers also increased at a relatively fast pace between 2019 and 2023 in several popular tourist destinations, with gains of between 2.0 and 3.3 million passengers in:

  • the Spanish regions of Canarias, Illes Balears, Andalucía and Comunitat Valenciana
  • the Italian regions of Sicilia and Lombardia
  • the Greek regions of Attiki and Notio Aigaio
  • the Portuguese regions of Grande Lisboa and Norte (that includes the city of Porto).

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Two bar charts showing air passengers carried. The first chart presents information on the EU regions with the highest numbers of air passengers carried in 2023. The second chart presents information on the EU regions with the biggest increases in their number of air passengers carried between 2019 and 2023. Data are presented in millions of passengers. Data are shown for NUTS level 2 regions in the EU. The complete data of the visualisation are available in the Excel file at the end of the article.
Figure 1: Air passengers carried
Source: Eurostat (tran_r_avpa_nm)

There were 4 regions across the EU that handled more than a million tonnes of air freight and mail in 2023 – Ile-de-France (France), Darmstadt, Leipzig (both Germany) and Noord-Holland (the Netherlands)

The regional statistics presented in this section generally refer to airports handling more than 100 tonnes of freight and mail per year. Based on this subset of airports, the quantity of air freight and mail loaded and unloaded in the EU was 14.7 million tonnes during 2023. This marked a decrease of 3.1% compared with the pre-pandemic situation in 2019.

The information presented in Figure 2 shows data for the 20 NUTS level 2 regions in the EU with the highest quantities of freight and mail in 2023. The vast majority of air cargo handled in EU airports is extra-EU international traffic to/from non-EU countries, where speed of delivery provides a competitive advantage. While some airports that handle freight also serve as major hubs for passenger traffic, others have developed a more specialised focus on cargo operations. This often reflects factors such as a strategic location near large population centres or key transport corridors, combined with operational advantages like the absence of night-time curfews.

In 2023, the French capital region of Ile-de-France recorded the highest quantity of air freight and mail, at 2.0 million tonnes. There were 3 other regions in the EU that reported at least 1.0 million tonnes:

  • Darmstadt in Germany (home to Frankfurt am Main airport) – 1.9 million tonnes
  • Leipzig in Germany (home to Leipzig/Halle airport, a major express courier hub) – 1.4 million tonnes
  • Noord-Holland in the Netherlands (home to Amsterdam/Schiphol airport) – also 1.4 million tonnes.

Figure 2 also shows the main changes – between 2019 and 2023 – in the quantity of air freight and mail loaded and unloaded. The quantity of goods carried increased most rapidly in Leipzig (up 164 000 tonnes) and in the Spanish capital region of Comunidad de Madrid (up 143 000 tonnes).

In 4 other regions across the EU, there were relatively large gains in the quantity of goods carried, ranging from 47 000 to 92 000 tonnes:

  • Prov. Liège (Liège airport serves as an express logistics hub)
  • Köln (Cologne Bonn airport is a hub for express parcel operations)
  • Podkarpackie (Rzeszów–Jasionka airport, in south-east Poland, has become a key node for cargo operations since the onset of Russian military aggression against Ukraine, acting as a staging post for humanitarian aid and military supplies)
  • Budapest (the Hungarian capital region).

Compet icon RYB2025.png


Two bar charts showing air freight and mail – loaded and unloaded. The first chart presents information on the EU regions with the highest volumes of freight and mail transported in 2023. The second chart presents information on the EU regions with the biggest increases in their volume of freight and mail transported between 2019 and 2023. Data are presented in thousands of tonnes. Data are shown for NUTS level 2 regions in the EU. The complete data of the visualisation are available in the Excel file at the end of the article.
Figure 2: Air freight and mail
Source: Eurostat (tran_r_avgo_nm)


Inland waterways

In 2023, 917.8 million tonnes of freight were handled by inland waterways across the EU (goods loaded and unloaded). Figure 3 presents the volume of freight handled across NUTS level 2 regions; note that many regions in the EU do not have any inland waterways that are used for transporting goods.

In 2023, Zuid-Holland (the Netherlands) accounted for more than 15% of the EU’s freight handled (in other words, loaded and unloaded) by inland waterways

Inland waterway freight transport in the EU is highly concentrated in a relatively small number of regions – primarily in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium – that are linked to major river systems. Zuid-Holland in the Netherlands recorded the highest freight volume handled in 2023, with 159.8 million tonnes of goods loaded or unloaded in this region. Its principal city, Rotterdam, plays a central role as Europe’s largest seaport and a gateway to the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt river system. It facilitates efficient cargo transfer between ocean shipping and inland waterways through its extensive port and canal infrastructure.

There were several other regions from the Netherlands that also featured prominently at the top of the list of the EU’s principal regions for handling inland waterways freight transport in 2023: Noord-Holland (67.9 million tonnes), Zeeland (44.3 million tonnes), Noord-Brabant (31.0 million tonnes), Limburg (23.7 million tonnes) and Gelderland (20.8 million tonnes) all reported more than 20 million tonnes of freight loaded and unloaded, reflecting the Netherlands dense and extensive inland waterway network. Some 65.0% of all inland waterway freight handled in the EU in 2023 was concentrated in just 11 NUTS level 2 regions, each handling more than 20 million tonnes. Outside of the Netherlands (see above), there were 5 other regions that surpassed this threshold:

  • the Belgian region of Prov. Antwerpen (99.5 million tonnes), with the port of Antwerp lying on the tidal section of the Scheldt river
  • Düsseldorf (65.0 million tonnes), situated on the Rhine, is a key hub for inland waterway freight transport within Germany and further afield
  • Prov. Oost-Vlaanderen (33.9 million tonnes) in Belgium, which contains the port of Ghent
  • the Sud-Est region of Romania (30.6 million tonnes), crossed by the Danube – Europe’s 2nd-longest river
  • Ile-de-France (20.2 million tonnes), primarily served by the river Seine, a major inland waterway that facilitates freight transport to and from the French capital region.

Figure 3 also presents data on the top EU regions where freight containers were loaded or unloaded on inland waterways, presenting the volume of goods handled in different EU regions. These containers – which measure at least 20 feet in length – are specially designed to facilitate the carriage of goods across 1 or more transport modes without intermediate reloading.

In 2023, Zuid-Holland (the Netherlands) recorded 3.3 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of inland waterway container freight handled, followed by Prov. Antwerpen (Belgium) with 1.9 million TEUs. Together, these 2 regions accounted for nearly half (48.4%) of the EU’s inland waterway container freight handling. Other regions with relatively high volumes included Noord-Brabant (the Netherlands) and Düsseldorf (Germany), both handling 0.7 million TEUs, followed by Noord-Holland (0.4 million TEUs), Rheinhessen-Pfalz (Germany), Limburg (the Netherlands) and Ile-de-France (France) – each with 0.3 million TEUs.

Container transport on inland waterways is therefore heavily concentrated in a limited number of EU regions, primarily in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. These countries benefit from extensive inland waterway networks that are integral to their transport systems, linking major ports such as Rotterdam, Antwerp-Bruges, Tilburg, Düsseldorf, Amsterdam, Ludwigshafen and Venlo – all vital hubs for container shipping.

Compet icon RYB2025.png


Two bar charts showing inland waterway freight transport. The first chart presents information on the EU regions with the highest volume of freight handled in 2023. The second chart presents information on the EU regions with the highest volume of containers handled in 2023. Data are presented in million tonnes for freight transport and in million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) for containers. Data are shown for NUTS level 2 regions in the EU. The complete data of the visualisation are available in the Excel file at the end of the article.
Figure 3: Inland waterway freight transport
Source: Eurostat (iww_go_atygofl) and (iww_go_actygofl)

Source data for figures and maps

Excel Regional transport statistics

Data sources

Regional transport statistics

Regional transport statistics are collected for a number of transport modes, based on the NUTS classification. They cover a broad range of indicators, for example, transport infrastructure (the length or density of transport networks) or equipment rates (the number of vehicles per inhabitant). The other main area of regional transport statistics concerns flows of passenger and freight traffic between, within and through regions for maritime transport and for air transport. Differences between regions are often closely related to the level and structure of their economic activity, their number of inhabitants, or their geographical location in relation to key transport infrastructure such as road and rail networks, or ports and airports.

The legal bases for transport statistics are:

Indicator definitions

Electric passenger cars

The principal type of motor energy used by a vehicle is that certified by the competent authority of the country of registration. Battery-only electric passenger cars are vehicles that only use batteries to feed an electric motor for propulsion.

Electric recharging points

The data on electric recharging points come from Eco-Movement, which collects detailed information on semi-public and publicly accessible charging points. This includes data on their location, connector types and power output.

The data on electric charging points are aggregated to NUTS level 2 regions and subsequently combined with Eurostat statistics on the stock of electric vehicles. This allows the calculation of a derived indicator on the available charging capacity per electric vehicle, expressed in kilowatts (kW).

Motorisation rate

The number of road motor vehicles registered per 1 000 inhabitants that are licensed to use roads that are open to public traffic. A road motor vehicle is defined as a vehicle fitted with an engine from which it derives its sole means of propulsion, which is normally used for carrying people or goods by road, including passenger cars, motor coaches, buses, trolley buses, motorcycles, road tractors, lorries and special vehicles.

Road freight transport

Road freight motor vehicles include:

  • single vehicles (such as a lorry) designed to carry goods
  • road tractors, also known as semi-trailer tractors or (the towing part of) articulated lorries, designed to pull vehicles that are not power-driven, typically semi-trailers.

Road freight transport statistics relate to transport by heavy goods vehicles; transport by light goods vehicles is excluded. Road freight transport is defined as road transport between 2 places (a place of loading and a place of unloading). The information presented concerns the performance of road freight transport (in tonne-kilometres per inhabitant) for goods unloaded in each NUTS level 2 region. The transport includes that performed by vehicles registered in any of the EU countries, but not by non-EU registered vehicles. The transport includes freight originating anywhere, not just within the region of unloading nor just within the EU.

Road accidents

A fatal road transport accident involves at least 1 road vehicle in motion on a public road (or a private road to which the public have right of access), resulting in at least 1 killed person. Road fatalities include people who are killed immediately in a traffic accident or who die within 30 days as a result of an injury sustained in a road accident; these statistics exclude suicides.

A road crash – alternatively referred to as a road traffic accident – is defined as a crash involving at least 1 vehicle on a public road. Damage-only accidents – where there are no fatalities or injuries – are excluded from the information presented.

Air passengers carried

An air passenger is any person, excluding on-duty members of the flight and cabin crews, who makes a journey by air; infants in arms are included.

The number of air passengers carried refers to all passengers on a particular flight (with 1 flight number), counted only once – not repeatedly for each stage of a flight. It includes both revenue and non-revenue passengers whose journey begins or terminates at the reporting airport, as well as transfer passengers joining or leaving the flight at the reporting airport; it excludes direct transit passengers.

Air freight and mail loaded and unloaded

Air freight and mail refers to the total volume of freight and mail loaded and unloaded at the reporting airport. Freight and mail combined are sometimes referred to as cargo.

Freight and mail air services are scheduled or non-scheduled flights operated by aircraft carrying revenue loads other than passengers – in other words, only freight and mail.

Inland waterways freight transport

A navigable inland waterway is a stretch of water, not part of the sea, that is suitable for navigation – either by natural conditions or through man-made modifications – primarily for use by inland waterway vessels.

Inland waterway freight vessels are those with a carrying capacity of at least 20 tonnes, specifically designed for the transport of goods on navigable inland waterways.

Inland waterway freight transport refers to any movement of goods using such vessels, carried out wholly or partly on inland waterways. The total weight of the goods carried includes the goods themselves, all packaging and the tare weight of the transport units.

Context

Transport policy

The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport is responsible for developing transport policy within the EU. Its remit is to ensure mobility in a single European transport area, integrating the needs of the population and the economy at large, while minimising adverse environmental effects. The promotion of more efficient and interconnected transport networks in the EU aims to bring about several benefits, including advanced mobility, reductions in emissions, improved competitiveness and productivity gains.

Since 2020, the EU’s transport policies have been shaped largely by The European Green Deal, the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy and related legislative packages. Policy initiatives within the transport domain touch on everyday lives; for example, the European Commission has proposed legislation about:

Sustainable and smart mobility

In December 2020, the European Commission adopted the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy – putting European transport on track for the future. The strategy lays the foundations for a fundamental transformation of the EU’s transport system, supporting both the green and digital transitions, while increasing resilience to future crises. It presents a roadmap structured around 3 key dimensions of mobility and 10 flagship initiatives.

  • Sustainable mobility
    • boosting the uptake of zero-emission vehicles, renewables and low-carbon fuels and related infrastructure
    • creating zero-emission airports and ports
    • making inter-urban and urban mobility more sustainable and healthier
    • greening freight transport
    • pricing carbon and providing better incentives for users
  • Smart mobility
    • making connected and automated multimodal mobility a reality
    • innovation, data and artificial intelligence for smart mobility
  • Resilient mobility
    • reinforcing the single market
    • making mobility fair and just for all
    • enhancing transport safety and security

The strategy is a wide-ranging plan built upon a set of key milestones, including, among others, the following targets:

  • at least 30 million zero-emission cars and 80 000 zero-emission lorries should be in operation by 2030, while nearly all cars, vans, buses and heavy-duty vehicles should be zero-emission vehicles by 2050
  • traffic on high-speed rail should double by 2030 and triple by 2050 (compared with 2015)
  • rail freight traffic should increase 50% by 2030 and double by 2050 (compared with 2015)
  • a multimodal trans-European transport network (TEN-T), equipped for sustainable and smart transport with high-speed connectivity, should be operational by 2030 for the core network and by 2050 for the comprehensive network.

TEN-T (Trans-European Transport Networks)

The EU’s Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) policy, governed by Regulation (EU) 2024/1679 on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network, aims to create a high-quality, multimodal transport infrastructure across the EU. It integrates rail, road, inland waterways, short sea shipping, ports, airports and terminals to ensure seamless connectivity and efficient transport of people and goods.

The revised regulation supports economic, social and territorial cohesion, while focusing on environmental sustainability, safety and resilience. It also introduces tighter deadlines – for example, completing work on core corridors by 2030. Some key initiatives include:

  • passenger trains on core and extended networks must travel at 160 km per hour or more by 2040
  • the deployment of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) to enhance rail safety and efficiency, with national signalling systems phased out by 2040
  • major airports with over 12 million annual passengers must be connected by long-distance rail, thereby offering a competitive alternative to domestic flights
  • an expansion of freight terminals to support increased capacity and multimodal transport.

Alternative fuels and clean vehicles

Regulation (EU) 2023/1804 on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure became effective across the EU on April 13, 2024. It aims to support the EU’s climate goals by ensuring the coordinated roll-out of alternative fuels infrastructure, forming part of broader efforts to decarbonise transport and reinforce the clean vehicles’ value chain.

The regulation on alternative fuels infrastructure sets binding targets for charging infrastructure. For example, there should be at least 1.3 kilowatts (kW) of publicly accessible charging power available for every registered electric vehicle, while fast charging stations (at least 150 kW) should be available every 60 km along major transport routes (the TEN-T core network) by 2025. Hydrogen refuelling stations must be available every 200 km and in principal urban conurbations by 2030.

The regulation sets out requirements for full technical interoperability, real-time consumer information, transparent pricing and accessible payment options that offer alternatives to subscription-based models. EU countries must develop national frameworks and report on progress to ensure compliance.

Road safety

The EU has a long-term strategic goal for road safety: Vision Zero. In October 2021, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the EU Road Safety Policy Framework 2021–2030 – Recommendations on next steps towards ‘Vision Zero’ (2021/2014(INI)). The framework aims to halve the number of fatalities and serious injuries on EU roads by 2030 and commits to bringing the number of road deaths close to zero by 2050. To achieve these targets, it will monitor indicators such as vehicle safety, seat belt usage, speed compliance and post-crash care.

This article forms part of Eurostat’s annual flagship publication, the Eurostat regional yearbook.

You can explore the maps interactively using Eurostat’s Statistical Atlas.

Explore further

Other articles

Inland transport infrastructure at regional level Inland waterway freight transport – quarterly and annual data Inland waterway freight transport at regional level

Database
Air transport (avia)
Air transport measurement – regional statistics (avia_rg)
Inland waterways transport (iww)
Inland waterways transport measurement – goods – annual data (iww_go_a)
Maritime transport (mar)
Maritime transport - regional statistics (mar_rg)
Maritime transport of passengers by NUTS 2 region (tran_r_mapa_nm)
Maritime transport of freight by NUTS 2 region (tran_r_mago_nm)
Road transport (road)
Road freight transport measurement (road_go)
Regional transport (tran_r)
Stock of vehicles by category and NUTS 2 regions (tran_r_vehst)
Stock of electric vehicles by category and NUTS 2 regions (tran_r_elvehst)
Victims in road accidents by NUTS 2 regions (tran_r_acci)
Air transport of passengers by NUTS 2 regions (tran_r_avpa_nm)
Air transport of freight by NUTS 2 regions (tran_r_avgo_nm)
Regional transport statistics (reg_tran)
Road freight (reg_road)
Other regional transport (reg_otran)
Road, rail and navigable inland waterways networks by NUTS 2 region (tran_r_net)

Thematic section

Publications

Paper and PDF publications

Online publications

Selected datasets
Air transport (t_avia)
Inland waterways transport (t_iww)
Maritime transport (t_mar)
Railway transport (t_rail)
Road transport (t_road)
Regional transport (t_tran_r)
Modal split, intermodal transport and transport performance relative to GDP (t_tran)
Regional transport statistics (t_reg_tran)

Methodology

Manuals and further methodological information

Metadata

External links

Legislation
  • Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road
  • Directive 2029/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 May 2009 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods and passengers by sea
  • Regulation (EU) No 437/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 February 2003 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of passengers, freight and mail by air
  • Regulation (EU) 2018/643 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 April 2018 on rail transport statistics (recast)
  • Council Decision of 30 November 1993 on the creation of a Community database on road accidents (93/704/EC)

Visualisation
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