20,640 people died in a road crash last year – progress remains too slow

23 October 2023

The 20,640 deaths on EU roads last year represented a 4% increase in relation to 2021, as traffic levels recovered after the pandemic.

While the underlying long-term trend is downward (-9% compared to pre-pandemic year), it is not decreasing at a fast enough pace to reach the EU target of halving the number of deaths by 2030. Furthermore, progress continues to be very uneven between Member States. Lithuania and Poland reported the largest decreases, of more than 30%, between 2019 and 2022, although the fatality rate in Poland still remains above the EU average. By contrast, over the last three years, the number of road deaths in Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Sweden has remained stable or has risen.

The overall ranking of countries’ fatality rates has not changed significantly since prior to the pandemic with the safest roads in Sweden (22 deaths per one million inhabitants) and Denmark (26/million) while Romania (86/million) and Bulgaria (78/million) reported the highest fatality rates in 2022. The EU average was 46 road deaths per million inhabitants in 2022.

The figures published by the European Commission reveal the final numbers of road fatalities for 2022 , following the publication of preliminary data in February 2023.

Preliminary figures for the first six months of 2023 indicate the number of deaths on EU roads has fallen slightly, compared with the same period in 2022. Some Member States, including Belgium, France, Slovakia and Finland, have recorded notable falls. Other countries, such as Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal and Sweden have seen significant increases to date. Monthly fluctuations make an accurate prediction for the entire year difficult.