Accidents and injuries statistics

Data extracted in December 2025

Planned article update: December 2026

Highlights

In the EU, over 173 500 people died from accidents in 2022, some 3.4% of all deaths.

Accidents accounted for a larger share of deaths among younger people in the EU: in 2022, close to a third of all deaths among people aged 15 to 19 years or 20 to 24 years resulted from accidents.

In 2023, Austria recorded 2 367 resident in-patient discharges for accidents and injuries per 100 000 inhabitants, the highest in the EU.

Share of all deaths caused by accidents, 2022

This article presents an overview of European Union (EU) statistics related to accidents (including deaths from transport accidents), deaths from assault and hospitalisation for injuries.

Unintentional injuries typically result from transport, workplace, home or leisure time accidents. Intentional injuries result from interpersonal violence (assault) and self-harm: note that statistics on self-harm can be found in an article on mental health and are not covered here.

This article is included in a set of statistical articles concerning specific health conditions in the EU which forms part of an online publication called Health in the European Union – facts and figures.

Deaths from accidents, injuries and assault

In 2022, there were over 173 500 deaths in the EU resulting from accidents, equivalent to 3.4% of all deaths among residents. In Slovenia, the Netherlands, France, Belgium and Estonia, the share of deaths from accidents in 2022 was more than 4.0%. The highest share among the EU countries was recorded in Slovenia (7.1%), which was 2.1 percentage points (pp) higher than in the Netherlands (which recorded the second highest share; at 5.0%). Accidents accounted for 1.3% of all deaths in Bulgaria, which was the only EU country where the share was below 2.5%.

Table 1: Causes of death – accidents (including the sequelae of transport and other accidents), residents, 2022
Source: Eurostat (hlth_cd_aro and hlth_cd_asdr2)

In 2022, accidents accounted for a higher share of deaths among males than among females in the EU (3.8% compared with 2.9%). This pattern was repeated across all of the EU countries except for Slovenia and the Netherlands, where the share among females was higher than that among males. The most pronounced differences between the sexes were in the Baltic countries where the share of deaths from accidents among males were at least 3.0 percentage points higher than among females.

Males were more likely than females to die from all types of accidents

The EU’s standardised death rate for accidents was 35.6 deaths per 100 000 inhabitants in 2022. The death rate for males (49.2 per 100 000 male inhabitants) was just over double that for females (24.5 per 100 000 female inhabitants) – see Table 1. In all EU countries, the standardised death rate for males in 2022 was higher than that for females, most notably in the Baltic countries where the difference was more than 50 deaths per 100 000 inhabitants.

Accidents were a more common cause of death at advanced ages. In 2022, the EU’s standardised death rate from accidents for those aged 65 years or over was 9.7 times as high as the rate for people aged less than 65 years; for all causes of death the standardised death rate for those aged 65 years or over was 22.4 times as high as for the younger age group.

A more detailed analysis of causes of death is presented in Table 2 for a selection of accidents, as well as for assault. Among males and females, the 3 leading causes of death from accidents were falls, the miscellaneous category of other accidents (including, for example, burns, electrocution, crushing or overexertion) and transport accidents. For the causes of death shown in this table, standardised death rates in 2022 for females were rarely higher than those for males. The only exceptions among the EU countries were for falls in Malta, for other accidents in the Netherlands and for assault in Cyprus and Austria. The rates were the same for males and females for assault in Germany.

Table 2: Standardised death rates – accidents and assault, 2022
Source: Eurostat (hlth_cd_asdr2)

For transport accidents, the standardised death rates for males and for females in 2022 were more than twice as high as the EU average in Romania where among males there were 17.6 deaths from transport accidents per 100 000 male inhabitants and for females there were 4.8 deaths per 100 000 female inhabitants. Croatia reported the second highest standardised death rate for males (13.7 deaths per 100 000 male inhabitants), while Luxembourg reported the second highest rate for females (4.0 deaths per 100 000 female inhabitants). The lowest standardised death rates for transport accidents among both sexes were reported by Ireland: 3.1 deaths from transport accidents per 100 000 male inhabitants and 0.9 deaths per 100 000 female inhabitants.

In Slovenia, the standardised death rate for falls among males was more than 3 times as high as the EU average (at 66.5 deaths per 100 000 male inhabitants), while it was more than 4 times as high for females (at 50.5 per 100 000 female inhabitants). The lowest rates for males were recorded in Czechia (8.1 deaths from falls per 100 000 male inhabitants), followed by Italy, Spain, Bulgaria and Ireland (all at most 10.0 deaths from falls per 100 000 male inhabitants). Similarly, the lowest rate for females was reported in Czechia (3.1 per 100 000 female inhabitants), followed by Bulgaria, Romania, Spain and Italy (all recorded at most 5.0 deaths from falls per 100 000 female inhabitants).

In 2022, the standardised death rate for accidental drowning and submersion among males was highest in Latvia, where there were 8.3 deaths per 100 000 male inhabitants; this was 4.9 times as high as the EU average. Among females, this rate in Latvia was 4.3 times as high as the EU average, at 1.8 deaths per 100 000 female inhabitants. Rates that were at least 4.0 times as high as the EU average were also observed in Lithuania for males and for females. The lowest rates were recorded in Luxembourg, 0.3 deaths per 100 000 male inhabitants and 0.0 deaths per 100 000 female inhabitants.

For accidental poisoning and exposure to noxious substances, standardised death rates for males ranged from 1.2 to 28.1 deaths per 100 000 male inhabitants in Italy and Estonia, respectively; the rate in Estonia was 7.5 times as high as the EU average. Among females, this rate ranged from 0.3 to 7.5 deaths per 100 000 female inhabitants in Bulgaria and Estonia, respectively; the rate in Estonia was 6.0 times as high as the EU average.

The highest standardised death rates for assault among males were in Latvia

In 2022, 2 958 people died from assaults in the EU, equivalent to 0.06% of the total number of deaths. The standardised death rate for assault was 0.7 per 100 000 inhabitants across the EU, with the rate for males approximately twice as high as for females (0.9 deaths per 100 000 male inhabitants compared with 0.4 deaths per 100 000 female inhabitants). Among males, the highest standardised death rate for assaults among EU countries was recorded for Latvia, at 4.2 per 100 000 male inhabitants, 4.7 times as high as the EU average. Among females, the rate in Latvia was 1.9 per 100 000 inhabitants, 4.3 times as high as the EU average. Rates that were at least twice as high as the EU average were also observed in Lithuania and Luxembourg for both sexes, and in Estonia and Sweden for males.

Standardised death rates for assault in 2022 were generally higher among males than females, although the 2 rates were almost the same in Germany, and slightly higher for females than for males in Austria and Cyprus. Among the EU countries where the rate was higher for males than for females, the most pronounced differences between the sexes were observed in Latvia and Estonia, where this difference was at least 2.0 deaths per 100 000 inhabitants.

Analysis by age for deaths from accidents

In 2022, 72.3% of all deaths from accidents in the EU were among people aged 65 years or over. On the other hand, a relatively high proportion of people who died under the age of 65 years died from accidents. The share of all deaths caused by accidents was more than twice as high for people aged less than 65 years (6.3%) as it was for people aged 65 years or over (2.9%).

For all of the 5-year age groups between the ages of 15 and 34 years, accidents were the single most common cause of death in the EU when compared with the other major categories in the 10th revision of the international statistical classification of diseases and related health problems (ICD-10); this was also the case for young people aged between 1 and 4 years. In 2022, accidents accounted for more than 30.0% of all deaths in the EU among people aged 15 to 19 years and 20 to 24 years (see Figure 1).

Looking across the age groups from youngest to oldest, there was a large jump in the number (and also the share) of deaths from accidents when moving from the age group 10 to 14 years to the age group 15 to 19 years: there were 4.4 times as many deaths from accidents in the older of these age groups than in the younger group. This large jump can, in part, be attributed to deaths from transport accidents, which alone accounted for more than a fifth (20.3%) of all deaths among people aged 15 to 19 years.

Figure 1: Share of all deaths caused by accidents, EU, 2022
Source: Eurostat (hlth_cd_aro)

Analysis by age for deaths from assaults

Compared with accidents, the age profile of people in the EU dying from assaults was even more skewed away from older people: around 4 out of 5 (80.7%) people killed by assaults in 2022 were aged less than 65 years. The 5-year age ranges with the highest number of deaths from assaults were for people aged 40 to 45 years and 50 to 54 years, which both recorded 265 deaths from assaults in the EU in 2022. Nevertheless, as a share of the total number of deaths within each age group, deaths from assaults were most common for the age group 20 to 24 years (2.4% of all deaths within this age group).

Healthcare for injuries, poisoning and other consequences of external causes

Austria, Germany and Bulgaria had the highest number of hospital in-patient discharges for patients treated for accidents and injuries (relative to population size)

There were around 5.9 million resident in-patients with injuries, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes (hereafter referred to as accidents and injuries) discharged from hospitals in the EU in 2023. In-patient discharges of those treated for accidents and injuries accounted for at least 10.0% of the total number of in-patient discharges in Austria, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and Belgium while they accounted for 5.5% in Bulgaria and 4.3% in Romania.

Relative to population size, Austria, Germany and Bulgaria recorded the highest number of in-patient discharges for those treated for accidents and injuries in 2023, with 2 367, 2 185 and 1 800 per 100 000 inhabitants, respectively (see Figure 2). The lowest ratio among the EU countries was recorded in Portugal (646 per 100 000 inhabitants).

Figure 2: Hospital discharge rates for resident in-patients with injuries, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes, 2022
Source: Eurostat (hlth_rinpat2)

Particularly long average length of stay for in-patients with a fracture of the femur

Across the EU, in-patients with accidents and injuries spent a total of 46.1 million days in hospital in 2023, equivalent to 8.5% of the total.

An analysis of the average length of hospital stays for in-patients treated for injuries, poisonings and certain other consequences of external causes shows that, in 2023, this value generally ranged from 4.4 days in Bulgaria and Denmark up to 10.4 days in Luxembourg. The only countries above this range were Portugal and Lithuania, which reported 11.4 and 11.7 days, respectively. Comparing the average length of stay in 2023 with that in 2022 (see Table 3 for data availability), Croatia and Romania reported decreases, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands reported no change, and most other EU countries reported increases of, at most, 0.7 days (in Hungary). France (up 2.0 days) and Lithuania (up 9.7 days) reported larger increases.

Table 3: In-patient average length of stay for injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes, 2022 and 2023
Source: Eurostat (hlth_talos1)

Table 3 also provides a more detailed analysis of the average length of hospital stays for in-patients diagnosed with 5 different types of accidents and injuries. In-patients with a fracture of the femur tended to spend the highest average number of days in hospital; the highest averages were recorded in Lithuania (26.2 days), Czechia (26.0 days) and Luxembourg (23.7 days), while the lowest were in Denmark and Sweden (both 6.6 days). People poisoned by drugs, medicaments and biological substances or treated for toxic effects generally spent the lowest average number of days in hospital. The averages ranged from 1.7 days in Hungary and 1.9 days in Denmark to 7.7 days in Portugal, with Luxembourg (13.4 days) reporting a considerably higher average.

Source data for tables and graphs

Accidents and injuries: tables and figures

Data sources

Key concepts

The number of deaths from a particular cause of death can be expressed relative to the size of the population. A standardised (rather than crude) death rate can be compiled which is independent of the age and sex structure of a population: this is done as most causes of death vary significantly by age and according to sex and the standardisation facilitates comparisons of rates over time and between countries.

An in-patient is a patient who is formally admitted (or ‘hospitalised’) to an institution for treatment and/or care and stays for a minimum of 1 night or more than 24 hours in the hospital or other institution providing in-patient care. An in-patient or day care patient is discharged from hospital when formally released after a procedure or course of treatment (episode of care). A discharge may occur because of the finalisation of treatment, signing out against medical advice, transfer to another healthcare institution, or because of death.

Causes of death

Statistics on causes of death provide information on mortality patterns, supplying information on developments over time in the underlying causes of death. This source is documented in more detail in a background article on the methodology of causes of death statistics. This provides information on the scope of the data, its legal basis, the methodology employed, as well as related concepts and definitions.

Causes of death are classified according to the 86 causes in the European shortlist, which is based on the 10th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10). Chapter XX of the ICD covers external causes of morbidity and mortality:

V01 to X59 accidents
- V01 to V99 transport accidents
- W00 to X59 other external causes of accidental injury
  - W00 to W19 falls
  - W65 to W74 accidental drowning and submersion
  - X40 to X49 accidental poisoning by and exposure to noxious substances
  - other accidents
    - W20 to W49 exposure to inanimate mechanical forces
    - W50 to W64 exposure to animate mechanical forces
    - W75 to W84 other accidental threats to breathing
    - W85 to W99 exposure to electric current, radiation and extreme ambient air temperature and pressure
    - X00 to X09 exposure to smoke, fire and flames
    - X10 to X19 contact with heat and hot substances
    - X20 to X29 contact with venomous animals and plants
    - X30 to X39 exposure to forces of nature
    - X50 to X57 overexertion, travel and privation
    - X58 to X59 accidental exposure to other and unspecified factors
X85 to Y09 assault
Y85 to Y89 sequelae of external causes of morbidity and mortality
- Y85 sequelae of transport accidents
- Y86 sequelae of other accidents
- Y87 sequelae of intentional self-harm, assault and events of undetermined intent
  - Y87.1 sequelae of assault.

Important note: for the statistics presented in this article, deaths from the sequelae of transport accidents are included under transport accidents, deaths from the sequelae of other accidents are included under other accidents. Equally, deaths from the sequelae of assault are included under assault. Sequelae denotes a chronic condition resulting from a certain disease or injury, and that may lead to death.

The causes of death statistics manual provides an overview of the definitions, classifications and variables, both for mandatory variables and variables provided on a voluntary basis. Healthcare resources and activities

Statistics on healthcare activities (such as information on hospital discharges) are documented in a background article on the methodology of healthcare non-expenditure statistics. This provides information on the scope of the data, its legal basis, the methodology employed, as well as related concepts and definitions.

For hospital discharges and the length of stay in hospitals, the International Shortlist for Hospital Morbidity Tabulation (ISHMT) is used to classify data from 2000 onwards, which is based on the 10th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10); Chapter XIX covers injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes:

S06 intracranial injury (ISHMT code 1901)
S00 to S05 and S07 to S09 other injuries to the head (ISHMT code 1902)
S52 fracture of forearm (ISHMT code 1903)
S72 fracture of femur (ISHMT code 1904)
S82 fracture of lower leg, including ankle (ISHMT code 1905)
S10 to S51, S53 to S71, S73 to S81, S83 to T14 and T79 other injuries (ISHMT code 1906)
T20 to T32 burns and corrosions (ISHMT code 1907)
T36 to T65 poisonings by drugs, medicaments and biological substances and toxic effects of substances chiefly nonmedicinal as to source (ISHMT code 1908)
T90 to T98 sequelae of injuries, of poisoning and of other consequences of external causes (ISHMT code 1910)
remainder of S00 to T98 other and unspecified effects of external causes (ISHMT code 1911).

For country specific notes on these data collections, please refer to the annexes at the end of the national metadata reports accessible from links at the beginning of the European metadata report.

The Healthcare non-expenditure statistics manual provides an overview of the classifications, both for mandatory variables and variables provided on a voluntary basis.

Symbols

In tables, a colon ':' is used to show where data are not available.

Context

With around 174 000 deaths in 2022 (3.4% of all deaths), accidents were among the most common causes of death in the EU, underlining the importance of policy actions that are designed to prevent accidents/injuries.

In June 2006, the European Commission adopted a Communication on Actions for a safer Europe (COM(2006) 0328 final) emphasising prevention measures. In May 2007, a Council Recommendation on the prevention of injury and the promotion of safety was adopted, targeting 7 key priority areas, namely: the safety of children and adolescents; elderly citizens; vulnerable road users; the prevention of sports injuries; injuries caused by products and services; self-harm; and interpersonal violence.

The EU strategic framework on health and safety at work 2021–27 (COM(2021) 323 final) promotes a ‘vision zero’ approach to work-related deaths in the EU, seeking to reduce accidents by:

thorough investigation of accidents and deaths at the workplace
identifying and addressing the causes of these accidents and deaths
increasing awareness of the risks related to work-related accidents and diseases
strengthening enforcement of existing rules and guidelines.

Concerning road transport accidents, vision zero and safe systems approaches are applied, considering a variety of issues, such as human factors (such as fallibility and vulnerability), vehicle safety, infrastructure and road use (such as speed limits). The EU road safety policy framework 2021–2030 set targets to halve the number of fatalities and serious injuries on European roads by 2030. The framework sets out measures for improving the cross-border enforcement of traffic offences, modernising driving licences and preparing the transition to higher levels of automation.

Explore further

Database

Health (hlth), see:

Health care (hlth_care)

Health care activities (hlth_act)

Hospital discharges of residents (hlth_rhosd)

Residents - in-patients (hlth_rhosd_inp)

Residents - average length of stay (ALOS) (hlth_rhosd_alos)

Causes of death (hlth_cdeath)

General mortality (hlth_cd_gmor)

Causes of death - deaths by country of residence and occurrence (hlth_cd_aro)

Health (t_hlth), see:

Health care (t_hlth_care)

Causes of death (t_hlth_cdeath)

Thematic section

Health

Publications

Atlas

Health statistics – Atlas on mortality in the European Union

News articles

Methodology

Manuals and guidelines

Healthcare non-expenditure statistics manual and guidelines for completing the Joint questionnaire on non-monetary healthcare statistics – 2025 edition

Metadata

Causes of death (SIMS metadata file – hlth_cdeath_sims)
Hospital discharges (ESMS metadata file – hlth_hosd_esms)

External links