Bulgaria had the highest road death rate in the European Union in 2025, with 71 deaths per million people, final European Commission figures published today show.
Romania was next with 68 deaths per million, followed by Croatia with 65. The safest roads were in Sweden, with 19 deaths per million, and Denmark, with 24.
Across the EU, 19,350 people died on the roads in 2025. That is 580 fewer than in 2024, a fall of 3%. Compared with 2019, deaths are down 15%, or 3,400 fewer.
The Commission says early figures for the first half of 2026 are good news. More countries have seen deaths fall by over 5% than have seen a rise, compared with the same period of 2025.
EU commissioner for sustainable transport and tourism Apostolos Tzitzikostas said: "In the European Union, even one life lost on the roads is too many."
He said road safety means protecting lives and preventing tragedies for families and communities in Europe. He wants every citizen to reach their destination safely, wherever they travel and however they get there. For that reason, he said, roads must become safer and prevention must be stepped up, so that every journey ends well.
"Road safety is more than rules and regulations," Tzitzikostas added.
Updated (27.10, 15:05): Bulgaria has the second-highest road death rate in the EU, behind Romania, according to the European Commission. An earlier report wrongly put it first. The data is for 2024, not 2025. That year, 74 people per million died on Bulgarian roads, against 78 in Romania and an EU average of 44. The 19,350 deaths across the EU are for the same year. Road deaths in Bulgaria have fallen from 93 per million in 2014 to 74. In 2024, more than 1.15 million people were injured on EU roads.
Follow-up: Bulgaria has EU's second-highest road death rate after Romania, EC says