The European Commission has released preliminary figures on road fatalities for 2025, reporting around 19,400 deaths. This represents a 3% decrease from 2024, meaning that 580 fewer people died on European roads. Given the increase in vehicles on EU roads and kilometres driven, this is a significant achievement. However, the preliminary data also highlights the need for sustained efforts at all levels as most Member States are not yet on track to meet the EU's goal of halving road deaths and serious injuries by 2030.
Road safety progress varies widely by country. Between 2024 and 2025, there were remarkable decreases in Estonia (-38%) and Greece (-22%). Based on this preliminary and sometimes partial data, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Poland and Romania are currently on track to meet the 50% reduction target in road deaths by 2030.
Despite this progress, Romania continues to have one of the highest fatality rates in the EU alongside Bulgaria and Croatia. Sweden and Denmark had the safest roads in 2025 as in previous years, with low fatality rates of 20 and 23 deaths per million inhabitants, respectively.
For every fatality, an estimated five people are seriously injured. This means that around 100,000 people across the EU suffer serious injuries in road crashes each year.
The available data for 2024 show that rural roads continue to be the most dangerous, with 53% of road traffic fatalities occurring there, compared with 38% in urban areas and 8% on motorways.
Within urban areas, vulnerable road users (pedestrians, cyclists and users of powered two-wheelers and personal mobility devices) represent 70% of total road deaths. Fatalities in urban areas occur overwhelmingly when a crash involves cars and lorries.
Overall, men (77%) vastly outnumber women (23%) in road deaths.
A growing concern is the disproportionately high share of young people (18-24) and older people (aged 65+) in road deaths – especially among people walking and on bicycles.
Car drivers and passengers represented 44% of all fatalities, whereas users of powered two-wheelers (motorbikes and mopeds) accounted for 21%, pedestrians 18%, and cyclists 9%. Although personal mobility devices make up only 1% of the total, the number of fatalities involving such devices (mostly e-scooters) increased significantly between 2021 and 2024.
Background
In 2018, the EU set itself a 50% reduction target for road deaths and serious injuries by 2030, while aiming to reach zero road deaths by 2050 (‘Vision Zero'). The Commission published a report on the Implementation of the EU Road Safety Policy Framework at the Mid-Point in 2026. The report confirms that significant progress has been made in reducing road fatalities, but the current pace is still insufficient.
Road safety is a shared responsibility between the EU and Member States. While national and local authorities carry out most of the day-to-day work, the EU contributes with safety rules for infrastructure and vehicles and for driving testing and licencing, coordinates cross-border cooperation between authorities and efforts to exchange best practices, and funds road safety projects. Recent EU-level initiatives include updated requirements for driving licences and better cross-border enforcement of road traffic rules and a proposal to enhance the roadworthiness of vehicles.
Today's figures are based on preliminary 2025 data. The final results will be published by the Commission in the autumn.
Road deaths – preliminary data for 2025
Rate per million population
Source: EU CARE database on road crashes and national sources; Population data are from Eurostat.
The 2025 figures are based on preliminary data for most countries and are subject to changes when the final data will be released in autumn 2026. Several figures have been estimated by the European Commission, based on preliminary data. Estimates for 2025 cover the whole year and all roads and refer to deaths within 30 days but for the following countries they are based on partial data: Spain (data available on rural roads only), as well as Netherlands (first 6 months). Note that in the Netherlands, police-registered fatalities are under-reported by around 10-15%. No data for 2025 are currently available for Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. Population data are taken from Eurostat.
Data for 2025 are compared with three time-periods: 2024 (the previous year), 2019 (the baseline year for the target of 50% fewer deaths by 2030) and the average of 2017-19 (to take account of fluctuations in small countries). The percentage changes in the table are based on the absolute number of fatalities rather than the rate per million population. Several countries have a significant degree of international traffic which impacts on the number of fatalities in the country.
Quote(s):
"Road safety is a shared responsibility. The steady reduction in road deaths across the EU shows that our joint efforts are making a difference. But every life lost on our roads last year is one too many. We must step up our work with Member States, industry and road users to make our roads safer and keep Europe firmly on track towards our goal of zero road deaths by 2050." Apostolos Tzitzikostas, Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism
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