In 2022, nearly 20,640 people lost their lives on the roads of the countries in the European Union, according to data published by the European Commission. The number of victims increased by 4% compared to 2021 after the recovery of traffic after the coronavirus pandemic.

Each country's overall mortality ranking has not changed significantly since the pre-pandemic period. Sweden (22 deaths per million inhabitants) and Denmark (26) had the fewest road deaths, while Romania (86) and Bulgaria (78) reported the highest death rates in 2022. The EU average in 2022 it is 46 road deaths per one million inhabitants.

In the long term, there is a tendency to decrease the number of victims of road accidents by (-9% compared to the year before the pandemic). However, the rate of reduction is slow and calls into question the achievement of the EU's target of halving the number of deaths by 2030. This target is set out in the EC's Road Safety Strategic Action Plan and the Road Safety Policy Framework 2021-2030, which also contain goals to achieve zero road deaths by 2050.

Furthermore, progress remains uneven across Member States. Lithuania and Poland saw the biggest reductions of more than 30% between 2019 and 2022, although Poland's death rate remains above the EU average.

Preliminary figures for the first six months of 2023 show that the number of road deaths in the EU has fallen slightly compared to the same period in 2022. Countries such as Belgium, France, Slovakia and Finland recorded significant declines, while Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal and Sweden saw significant increases.

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