The European Commission has published preliminary data on road fatalities for 2024. The data show that Bulgaria, Denmark, Lithuania, Poland and Slovenia are making significant progress towards the EU-wide target of reducing road fatalities by 50% by 2030. At the same time, progress in road safety remains uneven across European countries.
Sweden and Denmark remain the safest countries in terms of road accidents, with fatalities of 20 and 24 per million inhabitants respectively. At the same time, Romania (77 per million) and Bulgaria (74 per million), which still have some of the highest fatality rates, have made significant progress in reducing road fatalities, with a decrease of over 20% since 2019. The EU average is 44 road deaths per million inhabitants.
Around 19,800 people died in road accidents in the EU last year, a 3% decrease compared to 2023. This is the equivalent of 600 fewer lives lost.