Mobility in Europe: over 20,000 deaths in one year on EU roads. Romania tops fatality list, Sweden safest country

“Around 20,600 people were killed in road crashes last year, a 3% increase on 2021 as traffic levels recovered after the pandemic. This represents however 2,000 fewer fatalities (-10%) compared with the pre-pandemic year 2019. The EU and UN target is to halve the number of road deaths by 2030”. The European Commission has today released its preliminary figures on road fatalities for 2022. It is important to underline that “many of the gains achieved during the COVID-19 period (including a fall of 17% between 2019 and 2020) have not been lost”. Within this trend, however, there are differences across Member States. The largest decreases, of more than 30%, were reported in Lithuania and Poland, followed by Denmark that recorded a 23% fall. By contrast, over the last three years, the number of road deaths in countries such as Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden has remained rather stable or has risen. The “overall ranking” of countries’ fatality rates has not changed significantly compared to the pre-pandemic period. In 2022, the safest roads were in Sweden (21 deaths per one million inhabitants) and Denmark (26/million), while Romania (86/million) and Bulgaria (78/million) reported the highest fatality rates. The EU average was 46 road deaths per million inhabitants.
Valentina Bombelli