With an average of 92 deaths per million inhabitants, Romania had the highest road fatality rate in the European Union (EU) in 2021, according to final figures published by the European Commission (EC) on October 17. Neighbouring Bulgaria is second in the top, with a rate of 81 deaths per million inhabitants.

Romania's road fatality rate in 2021 was 7% higher than the year before but 5% lower compared to 2019.

The EU average was 45 road deaths per million inhabitants last year, with the safest roads found in Sweden (20 deaths/million) and Denmark (22/million).

The same source said an estimated 19,900 people were killed on EU roads last year, a 6% increase compared to 2020. But this followed an "unprecedented annual fall of 17% between 2019 and 2020."

"The picture over the last two years has been strongly influenced by the traffic levels in each country which were considerably lower during the pandemic. For some Member States, the post-lockdown increase in road fatalities is so significant that it calls for deeper analysis and urgent action," the Commission explained.

The EC also said that preliminary figures for the first seven months of 2022 again indicate a rise in road deaths - by more than 10% on average, compared with 2021. It also said that some Member States had seen significantly larger rises without naming them.

"The EU-wide estimate for road deaths in 2022 to date is still below that of the pre-pandemic year 2019, though monthly fluctuations make an accurate prediction for the entire year difficult. The current pace of change is insufficient to meet the EU's target of halving the number of deaths by 2030," the EC explained.

"To this end, the Commission is working closely with Member States to ensure that they implement a holistic safe-system approach – widely accepted as the best means to tackling road safety - as part of their national road safety strategies for the decade to 2030," it added.

The figures have been announced as the Commission hosted the annual Excellence in Road Safety Awards, which recognize the contributions of the European Road Safety Charter's community of members towards the common goal of improved road safety across Europe. The list of winners is available here.

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