How Many People Die on Europe's Roads Each Year? 2024 Data

Quick answer: In 2024, 19,934 people were killed in road accidents in the European Union, according to Eurostat, down 2.2% on 2023. That is a rate of 44 deaths per million inhabitants. France recorded the highest number of deaths, 3,181, while Romania had the highest rate, 78 deaths per million inhabitants, and Sweden had the lowest, 20 per million. More than half of all deaths happened on rural roads.

The headline numbers

Eurostat's road safety statistics for the EU, drawn from the CARE database, record:

• 19,934 people killed in road accidents in the EU in 2024, down 2.2% from 2023
• 44 deaths per million inhabitants across the EU in 2024
• 17.4% fall in deaths between 2014 and 2024
• 3 countries with more than 2,000 deaths in 2024: France, Germany and Italy, together accounting for 45.1% of all EU deaths
• 5 countries with fewer than 100 deaths in 2024: Estonia, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta and Slovenia

The decade trend is downward, but not steadily: deaths rose in 2015, 2021 and 2022, and fell sharply in 2020, when pandemic lockdowns cut traffic across Europe. The EU set out to halve road deaths between 2010 and 2020 and did not meet that target, despite deaths dropping 36.4% from 29,611 in 2010 to 18,838 in 2020.

The safest and deadliest countries

Counts are not risk. A large country will always record more deaths than a small one, so Eurostat also publishes deaths per million inhabitants, and the gaps are wide. In 2024:

• Sweden reported 20 deaths per million inhabitants, Malta 21, Denmark 24 and Luxembourg 27, the lowest rates in the EU
• Romania reported 78 per million, the highest, followed by Bulgaria at 74 per million
• 10 countries recorded 50 or more deaths per million: Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Croatia, Latvia, Portugal, Hungary, Poland, Italy and Estonia, in descending order

France recorded the highest count in 2024, with 3,181 deaths. Compared with 2023, 21 EU countries recorded a decrease, with Germany registering the largest fall, 69 fewer deaths, while 6 countries saw an increase, with France registering the largest rise in absolute terms, 27 more deaths. Compared with 2014, every EU country recorded a decrease except three: Spain, Malta and the Netherlands.

Among the EFTA countries, Norway reported 16 deaths per million inhabitants, Switzerland 28 and Iceland 34.

Who dies, and how

Men accounted for around three quarters of EU road deaths throughout 2014 to 2024: in 2024, 15,332 men were killed against 4,552 women. Between 2014 and 2024, male deaths fell 12.6% and female deaths fell 18.4%.

By age, two groups dominate. People aged 25 to 49 accounted for 31.1% of deaths in 2024, and people aged 65 and over accounted for 30.7%. Together they made up just over 60% of all deaths. The remaining shares were 21.4% for ages 50 to 64, 12.1% for ages 18 to 24, and 4.2% for under-18s combined. In 10 EU countries, people aged 65 and over were the largest group of deaths, including Sweden at 45.1%, the Netherlands at 41.3%, Germany at 39.7% and Denmark at 37.9%.

By mode of transport in 2024:

• Drivers and passengers of passenger cars accounted for 43.6% of all deaths, the largest group
• Motorcyclists and their passengers accounted for 18.5%
• Pedestrians accounted for 17.8%, or 3,558 people killed
• Cyclists and e-bike riders together accounted for 9.9%
• Light and heavy goods vehicles, buses and coaches, mopeds and other vehicles together accounted for 10.2%

Drivers have consistently accounted for the highest number of deaths each year, between 61.2% and 67.6% of the total from 2014 to 2024. Driver deaths fell from 14,775 in 2014 to 13,478 in 2024. Eurostat notes cycling deaths are likely under-reported, as some accidents involving cyclists are not reported to the police. Where cycling is widespread, cyclists make up a larger share of deaths: 27.0% in the Netherlands in 2024, followed by Belgium at 17.9%.

Where deaths happen

Road type matters more than most people expect. In 2024:

• Rural roads accounted for 53.3% of deaths, or 10,619 people
• Urban roads accounted for 38.2%, or 7,618 people
• Motorways accounted for 8.5%, or 1,691 people

Twenty countries recorded 50% or more of their deaths on rural roads, led by Finland at 72.9% and Sweden at 68.1%. Only 8 countries recorded more than 10% of deaths on motorways, with Cyprus highest at 23.5%. Urban-road shares ranged from 0% in Malta to 64.1% in Romania.

The road to 2030

In 2021 the European Commission introduced the EU road safety policy framework 2021-2030, which targets a 50% cut in road deaths and serious injuries between 2020 and 2030, as part of the Vision Zero objective of zero fatalities and serious injuries by 2050. The 2024 figures show the scale of that challenge: deaths have fallen 17.4% since 2014, but the pace must quicken considerably to halve the toll by 2030.

The rankings point to where the gains are possible: the safest countries show that rates around 20 to 27 deaths per million inhabitants are achievable, while the highest-rate countries sit near three times that level.

For the British picture, see UK road accidents, and for how age shapes risk, see Are Older Drivers More Dangerous? and Are Young Drivers More Dangerous on UK Roads?. France is covered on France road accidents, and all articles are on all articles.

How these numbers were counted

These figures come from Eurostat's road safety statistics in the EU, data extracted in April 2026 from the CARE database of police and hospital data collected by EU countries. The figures count people fatally injured, meaning death within 30 days of the accident. Confirmed suicides and natural deaths are not included. For Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Portugal and Slovenia, where 2024 breakdown data were missing, distributions were estimated from 2023 shares. Data for the French overseas departments and the Azores and Madeira are not available. Figures can be revised in later releases.