In 2018, 23 339 people died in road accidents in the EU, 45% being passenger car occupants, 21% pedestrians, 15% motorcycles, 8% bicycles and 12% other categories, shows Eurostat.
There has been a downward trend over the last 10 years in the number of road traffic victims in the EU.
Compared with 2008, the number of road fatalities has fallen by more than 13 000 persons (-37%), from almost 37 000 to less than 24 000 in 2018.
Highest number of road fatalities in Romania and Bulgaria
Compared with the population of each member state, the lowest rates of road fatalities in 2018 were observed in Ireland (29 road traffic victims per million inhabitants), Denmark (30), Sweden (32) and the Netherlands (35), ahead of Malta (38), Spain (39) and Germany (40).
At the opposite end of the scale, the highest rates were recorded in Romania (96 road traffic victims per million inhabitants), Bulgaria (87), Croatia and Latvia (both 77) and Poland (75).
In 2018, there were in total 52 road traffic victims per million inhabitants in the EU as a whole.
