Europe’s deadliest countries for driving in 2024

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    Europe’s deadliest countries for driving in 2024

    • Bulgaria has the highest rate of road deaths in Europe, with 81.6 deaths per million residents, 78% above the EU 27 average.

    • Romania is second, with 81.1 road deaths per million, and Serbia is third, with 75.7.

    • Popular holiday destinations Croatia, Portugal, Greece, and Italy are all in the top 10.

    A new study has revealed that Bulgaria has the highest rate of road deaths in Europe.

    Swiss vignette site Vignetteswitzerland.com analysed the latest data on road deaths from the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) to see which European countries had the highest rate of road deaths per million inhabitants in 2023.

    2023 road deaths per million residents in each European country

    Rank Country 2023 road deaths Population 2023 road deaths per million inhabitants Difference to EU27 average
    1. Bulgaria 526 6,447,710 81.6 +79%
    2. Romania 1,545 19,054,548 81.1 +78%
    3. Serbia 503 6,641,197 75.7 +66%
    4. Latvia 142 1,883,008 75.4 +66%
    5. Croatia 274 3,850,894 71.2 +56%
    6. Portugal 600 9,974,165 60.2 +32%
    7. Greece 621 10,413,982 59.6 +31%
    8. Lithuania 160 2,857,279 56 +23%
    9. Italy 3,094 58,997,201 52.4 +15%
    10. Poland 1,893 36,753,736 51.5 +13%
    ... ... ... ... ... ...
    31. Norway 110 5,488,984 20 +56%
    EU27 20,418 446,013,606 45.5

    Bulgaria is the deadliest country in Europe for road deaths, with a rate of 81.6 deaths per million, 79% above the EU27 average of 45.5 road deaths per million. Overall, there were 526 deaths on Bulgaria’s roads in 2023.

    Romania is second for road deaths per million residents, with 81.1, 78% above the EU27 average. A total of 1,545 road deaths were recorded in 2023.

    Serbia is third, with 75.7 road deaths per million, 65% above the average. In total, 503 deaths occurred on its roads in 2023.

    Latvia is fourth, with 75.4 road deaths per million residents, 66% above the EU27 average.

    Croatia has the fifth highest rate of road deaths per million in Europe, with 71.2, 56% higher than the average for EU countries.

    Portugal is sixth, with 60.2 deaths per million inhabitants, 32% above the EU27 average.

    Greece is seventh, with 59.6 road deaths per million, and Lithuania is eighth, with 56. These are 31% and 23% above the EU27 average, respectively.

    Italy and Poland complete the top 10 in ninth and tenth, respectively. Italy recorded 52.4 road fatalities per million, and Poland 51.5. Poland was the closest country in Europe to meeting its 2013 target of halving its road deaths by 2023, achieving a 44% reduction in road deaths in this time.

    Norway had the lowest rate of road deaths in Europe, with only 20 deaths per million, less than half the EU27 average of 45.5. Norway also had Europe’s third best reduction in road deaths since 2013, lowering road deaths by 41%.

    M.E. Wijnmalen, CEO of Vignetteswitzerland.com, commented on the findings:

    “While massive strides have been made in road safety in recent decades, there is still much work to be done to continue reducing road deaths. Not one country met its 2013 target of a 50% reduction in road deaths by 2023, Poland came closest with a 44% reduction. Some even saw increases from their 2013 figures.“

    “We wanted to look at which European countries had the deadliest roads compared to our study o, so we looked at deaths per million inhabitants to see which countries were doing best with road fatalities, and which had the most room to improve. We found Bulgaria had the highest road death rate in Europe, while Norway was lowest.“

    ENDS

    Please credit and link to https://vignetteswitzerland.com if you use these insights.

    Sources:

    European Transport Safety Council, 18th Annual Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) Report

    European Union Road Federation, Road Network 2020

    Methodology:

    1. Road fatality and population data was obtained from the ETSC 18th Annual Road Safety Performance Index Report. Road network data was obtained from the European Union Road Federation. Road Network 2020.

    2. Countries were ranked by 2023 road deaths per million residents.

    3. Each country was compared to the EU27 average and its own 2013 road deaths figures for additional context.

    4. For additional insight into road deaths, a secondary metric was created which compared 2023 road deaths with the total length of the road network in each European country and for the EU27 average. Countries were ranked by this as secondary to the deaths per million statistics.

    Data is correct as of July 30, 2024.

    Data for deaths per million for Croatia was reported as 60.2 deaths per million by the ETSC. However, 2023 data for Croatian road deaths is 274 deaths, and 2023 population is 3.85 million, equaling 71.2 road deaths per million. This revised figure is used throughout this release.

    Additional Tables:

    2023 road deaths per million residents in each European country

    Rank Country 2023 road deaths Population 2023 road deaths per million residents Difference to EU27 average
    1. Bulgaria 526 6,447,710 81.6 +79%
    2. Romania 1,545 19,054,548 81.1 +78%
    3. Serbia 503 6,641,197 75.7 +66%
    4. Latvia 142 1,883,008 75.4 +66%
    5. Croatia 274 3,850,894 71.2 +56%
    6. Portugal 600 9,974,165 60.2 +32%
    7. Greece 621 10,413,982 59.6 +31%
    8. Lithuania 160 2,857,279 56 +23%
    9. Italy 3,094 58,997,201 52.4 +15%
    10. Poland 1,893 36,753,736 51.5 +13%
    11. Hungary 481 9,599,744 50.1 +10%
    12. Slovakia 267 5,428,792 49.2 +8%
    13. France 3,167 65,925,961 48 +6%
    14. Czechia 502 10,827,529 46.4 +2%
    15. Austria 402 9,104,772 44.2 -3%
    16. Estonia 59 1,365,884 43.2 -5%
    17. Belgium 483 11,742,796 41.1 -10%
    18. Luxembourg 26 660,809 39.3 -14%
    19. Slovenia 82 2,116,972 38.7 -15%
    20. The Netherlands 684 17,811,291 38.4 -16%
    21. Spain 1,779 48,085,361 37 -19%
    22. Cyprus 34 920,701 36.9 -19%
    23. Ireland 185 5,271,395 35.1 -23%
    24. Germany 2,830 84,358,845 33.5 -26%
    25. Finland 182 5,563,970 32.7 -28%
    26. Malta 16 542,051 29.5 -35%
    27. Switzerland 236 8,815,385 26.8 -41%
    28. Denmark 155 5,932,654 26.1 -43%
    29. United Kingdom 1,716 68,400,000 25.1 -45%
    30. Sweden 229 5,488,984 21.8 -52%
    31. Norway 110 5,488,984 20 -56%
    EU27 20,418 446,013,606 45.5

    Change in road deaths since 2013 in each European country

    Rank 2023 road deaths per million Country 2013 road deaths 2023 road deaths Road deaths percentage change since 2013 Rank road deaths percentage change since 2013 2013 deaths per million inhabitants 2023 deaths per million inhabitants
    1. Bulgaria 601 526 -12% 19 82.5 81.6
    2. Romania 1,861 1,545 -17% 17 93 81.1
    3. Serbia 650 503 -23% 13 90.5 75.7
    4. Latvia 179 142 -21% 14 88.4 75.4
    5. Croatia 368 274 -26% 10 86.3 60.2
    6. Portugal 637 600 -6% 25 64.1 60.2
    7. Greece 879 621 -29% 8 79.9 59.6
    8. Lithuania 258 160 -38% 4 64.8 55.8
    9. Italy 3,401 3,094 -9% 24 57 52.4
    10. Poland 3,357 1,893 -44% 1 88.2 51.5
    11. Hungary 591 481 -19% 16 59.6 50.1
    12. Slovakia 223 267 +20% 31 21.6 49.9
    13. France 3,268 3,167 -3% 26 51.3 48
    14. Czechia 654 502 -23% 11 62.2 46.4
    15. Austria 455 402 -12% 22 53.8 44.2
    16. Estonia 81 59 -27% 9 61.4 43.2
    17. Belgium 764 483 -37% 5 68.6 41.1
    18. Luxembourg 45 26 -42% 2 83.8 39.3
    19. Slovenia 125 82 -34% 6 60.7 38.7
    20. The Netherlands 570 684 +20% 32 34 38.4
    21. Spain 1,680 1,779 +6% 29 36 37
    22. Cyprus 44 34 -23% 12 50.8 36.9
    23. Ireland 188 185 -2% 28 40.8 35.1
    24. Germany 3,340 2,830 -15% 18 41,5 33.5
    25. Finland 258 182 -29% 7 47.5 32.7
    26. Malta 18 16 -11% 23 42.6 29.5
    27. Switzerland 269 238 -12% 20 33.5 26.8
    28. Denmark 191 155 -19% 15 34.1 26.1
    29. United Kingdom 1,770 1,716 -3% 27 27.6 25.1
    30. Sweden 260 229 -12% 21 27.2 21.8
    31. Norway 187 110 -41% 3 37 20
    EU27 24,296 20,420 -16% 55.3 45.5