Bulgaria has the second-highest road death rate in the European Union, after Romania, not the highest, a European Commission report shows.

The report covers 2024, not 2025. That year, 74 people per 1m inhabitants died on Bulgaria's roads, compared with 78 in Romania and an EU average of 44.

See also: Bulgaria has the most road deaths in the EU for 2025, 71 per million people

Reports first said Bulgaria ranked first in the EU for 2025, with 71 deaths per 1m people, followed by Romania with 68 and Croatia with 65. The data was presented as final and published by the Commission the same day. The figures of 71 for Bulgaria and 68 for Romania for 2025 are wrong, and officials citing the Commission give different ones.

Between 2014 and 2024, Bulgaria cut road deaths from 93 to 74 per million, and Romania from 91 to 78.

In 2024, 19,350 people died on roads across the EU, and more than 1.15m were injured.

The Commission says preliminary data for the first half of 2026 is positive. More countries have seen deaths fall by over 5% from the same period of 2025 than have seen them rise.

"In the European Union, even one life lost on the roads is too many," said Apostolos Tzitzikostas, European commissioner for sustainable transport and tourism. He said road safety means protecting human lives and sparing families and communities across Europe from tragedy.

"Road safety is more than rules and regulations," the commissioner added. He said he wants everyone to reach their destination safely, wherever and however they travel, and that this takes safer roads and more prevention.

The first report named Sweden, with 19 deaths per 1m people, and Denmark, with 24, as having the safest roads, but the year of those figures has not been confirmed. The 2025 comparisons were also wrong. Deaths did not fall by 580, or 3%, from the year before, and they are not 15% lower than in 2019, or 3,400 fewer.