Estonia had Europe’s sixth-lowest road death rate in 2025

Estonia recorded 31 road deaths per million residents in 2025, placing it sixth among Europe’s safest countries by that measure, ERR reported. A total of 43 people died in traffic crashes in the country.

According to final figures published by the European Commission, Sweden and Norway had the lowest rates, with 19 deaths per million residents each. Denmark and Switzerland recorded 24, and Iceland 26.

Malta and Ireland each had 33 deaths per million residents. Finland, Germany and the Netherlands recorded 34, while Spain had 36. The highest rates were in Serbia, at 75, Bulgaria, at 71, Romania, at 68, Croatia, at 67, and Latvia, at 64. Lithuania recorded 138 traffic deaths, or 48 per million residents.

Across the European Union, the European Free Trade Association countries and Serbia, 19,350 people died in traffic crashes last year, equivalent to 43 per million residents. The Commission said road deaths across Europe fell by 3% from 2024, a decrease of 580, and by 15% from 2019, a decrease of 3,400.

The Commission noted that, compared with the EU average, a larger share of fatal crashes in Estonia occurred on roads outside urban areas. Road deaths in Estonia fell by 17% between 2019 and 2025, but the Commission said the country was unlikely to meet its 2030 goal of halving deaths compared with 2019. It cautioned that annual figures can fluctuate significantly because Estonia has a small population and relatively few road deaths.

Estonia’s road death count rose by more than 10% in the first half of 2026, according to the Commission. ERR reported that 30 people had died in traffic crashes in the first seven months of the year, four more than during the same period in 2025. Across Europe, preliminary figures showed more countries recorded a fall of over 5% in road deaths in the first half of 2026 than recorded an increase.