Road fatalities went up in 2022 after long decline

In 2022, the total number of road fatalities in the EU rose to 20 889, up 3.6% compared with 2021. On average, there were 46 road fatalities per million inhabitants in 2022.

The highest incidence rates in the regions at level 2 of the nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTS 2), for which data are available, were recorded in: Alentejo (149 road fatalities per million inhabitants) in Portugal and Notio Aigaio (131) and Ionia Nisia (127) in Greece.

Source datasets: tran_r_acci and tran_sf_roadus

There were 21 out of 242 NUTS level 2 regions where the incidence of road fatalities was less than 25 per million inhabitants in 2022. Urban and capital regions tended to report much lower incidences of road fatalities. While Åland in Finland reported no road deaths, the next lowest incidence rates were observed in the Swedish capital region of Stockholm (7), the Austrian capital region of Wien and the German capital region of Berlin (both 9).

Road fatalities down in 80% of EU regions in a decade

In more than 4 out of every 5 regions, the incidence rate of road fatalities fell between 2012 and 2022.

The most rapid decline in the incidence of road fatalities was in the remote Swedish region of Norra Mellansverige (-62.9%), while Małopolskie in Poland and Salzburg in Austria also recorded falls of more than 60.0%.

By contrast, there were 37 regions across the EU where the rate of road fatalities increased during this period. The highest increases in road fatalities with at least 50% were recorded in Cantabria in Spain, Severen tsentralen in Bulgaria, Voreio Aigaio in Greece, Região Autónoma dos Açores in Portugal and Malta (where the rate more than doubled).