site.btaBulgaria, Romania with Most Road Accident Fatalities per Capita in EU in 2023, Eurostat Reports

In 2023, the highest rates of road traffic fatalities in the European Union were recorded in Bulgaria and Romania, with 81 deaths per million inhabitants in each country, followed by Latvia with 75. These figures stand in stark contrast to the EU average of 46 fatalities per million, the Statistical Office of the European Commission (Eurostat) reported on Tuesday.

The lowest rates of road traffic fatalities in 2023 were registered in Sweden (22 road fatalities per million inhabitants), Denmark (27) and Malta (30).

In 2023, road traffic accidents claimed the lives of 20,380 people in the EU, a 1.3% decrease compared with 2022 (20,652 fatalities).

In 2020, the number of fatalities had dropped sharply to 18,830 fatalities, which was attributed to COVID-19 mobility restrictions affecting passenger transport. Although fatalities increased in 2021 and 2022, they did not return to pre-pandemic levels.