A flipped car in the road, with firefighters and ambulance on site

In 2021, the number of people killed in road traffic accidents in the EU increased by 6% compared with 2020 (19 917 deaths compared with 18 834). This marked a change from the steady decline observed over the previous decade. The increase in 2021 was seen after an unprecedented drop in 2020, which resulted from COVID-19 restrictions affecting passenger transport.

This information comes from data on road safety published by Eurostat today. This article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article.

Source datasets: tran_sf_roadse

Road fatality rates: lowest in Malta, highest in Romania

In 2021, the EU averaged 45 road traffic fatalities per million inhabitants.

 

Source datasets: tran_sf_roadse and demo_pjan

 

Taking into consideration the population of each EU country, the lowest rates of road fatalities in 2021 were observed in Malta (17 road traffic victims per million inhabitants), Sweden (20) and Denmark (22).

In contrast, the highest rates were recorded in Romania (93 road traffic victims per million inhabitants), followed by Bulgaria (81) and Latvia (78).

For more information

Methodological notes

  • The data come from the CARE database (the Community database on road accidents resulting in death or injury). 

 

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