The European Commission has released preliminary figures on road fatalities for 2025, reporting approximately 19,400 deaths across the European Union.

This represents a 3 percent decrease compared with 2024, meaning that 580 fewer people died on EU roads. Given the continued increase in traffic volumes and kilometres driven, the Commission considers this reduction a significant achievement. However, the data also show that most Member States remain off track to meet the EU’s target of halving 2019’s (last pre-pandemic year) road deaths and serious injuries by 2030.

Data

Road safety progress varied widely between countries. Estonia recorded a remarkable 38 percent decrease in fatalities, while Greece achieved a 22 percent reduction. Based on the available preliminary data, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Poland and Romania appear to be progressing quickly enough to meet the 2030 reduction target. Despite these improvements, Bulgaria continues to show one of the highest fatality rates in the EU, alongside Romania and Croatia. Sweden and Denmark remained the safest countries in 2025, with fatality rates of 20 and 23 deaths per million inhabitants respectively.

Injuries

For every fatality, the Commission estimates that five people suffer serious injuries. This means around 100,000 people were seriously injured in road crashes across the EU in 2025. The most recent complete data set, from 2024, shows that rural roads remain the most dangerous, accounting for 53 percent of all road deaths. Urban areas accounted for 38 percent of fatalities, and motorways for 8 percent. Within urban areas, vulnerable road users – including pedestrians, cyclists, powered two‑wheeler users and users of personal mobility devices – represented 70 percent of all road deaths. Most of these urban fatalities occurred in collisions involving cars and lorries.

Gender

The data also show a strong demographic imbalance. Men accounted for 77 percent of all road deaths, while women accounted for 23 percent. Younger people aged 18 to 24 and older people aged 65 and above continue to be disproportionately affected, especially among pedestrians and cyclists. Car occupants made up 44 percent of all fatalities, users of powered two‑wheelers 21 percent, pedestrians 18 percent and cyclists 9 percent. Fatalities involving personal mobility devices, particularly e‑scooters, have increased significantly since 2021, even though these devices represent only around 1 percent of total deaths.

The 2025 figures are preliminary and will be updated when final data are released in the autumn.

Comments

European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism Apostolos Tzitzikostas commented that road safety is a shared responsibility. He noted that while the continued reduction in fatalities is encouraging, every life lost is one too many. He called for intensified cooperation between Member States, industry and road users to keep Europe on track toward the long‑term goal of zero road deaths by 2050.

“ROADPOL welcomes the overall decrease in fatalities but stresses that a 3 percent improvement is not enough to meet the 2030 target. ROADPOL remains committed to supporting consistent enforcement, data‑driven policing, cross‑border cooperation and measures that protect vulnerable road users. The network will continue working with partners at all levels to accelerate progress and create safer roads across Europe“, commented ROADPOL General Secretary Damyan Vladinov.