Firefighter and paramedic at the place of a car crash.

In 2023, road traffic accidents claimed the lives of 20 380 people in the EU, a 1.3% decrease compared with 2022 (20 652 fatalities). In 2020, the number of fatalities had dropped sharply to 18 830 fatalities, which was attributed to COVID-19 mobility restrictions affecting passenger transport. Although fatalities increased in 2021 and 2022, they did not return to pre-pandemic levels.

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 on road safety statistics in the EU.

Road accident fatalities in the EU, 2013-2023, number. Chart. See link tot he full dataset below.

Source dataset: tran_sf_roadus

Road traffic fatality rate lowest in Sweden

There were on average 46 road traffic fatalities per million inhabitants in the EU. The lowest rates of road traffic fatalities in 2023 were registered in Sweden (22 road fatalities per million inhabitants), Denmark (27) and Malta (30).

By contrast, the highest rates were recorded in Bulgaria and Romania (both with 81 road fatalities per million inhabitants), followed by Latvia (75).

Source datasets: tran_sf_roadus and demo_pjan

For more information

Methodological note

Data disseminated by Eurostat on road safety in the datasets under tran_sf_road is extracted from the CARE database (the Community database on road accidents resulting in death or injury). CARE data is reported by Member States to the Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport.

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