Greece has once again ranked among the least safe countries in Europe for road safety, according to the European Transport Safety Council’s (ETSC) 2025 report.
Road fatalities in Greece rose to 665 in 2024, up from 646 in 2023, marking a 2.9% increase in deaths per million inhabitants. The country recorded 64 road deaths per million people, compared to the EU average of 45.
The latest figures place Greece 29th out of 32 European countries surveyed, a steady decline from its 26th position in 2023. The report groups Greece with Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, and Serbia as the EU’s most dangerous countries for road travel.
Despite government pledges to enhance road safety, Greece has consistently failed to reverse its poor standing. From 2021 to 2024, the country’s rank fluctuated between 26th and 29th.
Photo: ETSC
The data underscores a stark reality: the risk of dying in a road accident in Greece is nearly three times higher than in top-performing countries such as Norway, Sweden, and Malta, and twice as high as in Denmark, the UK, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Slovenia.
The release of the report comes days after a tragic hit-and-run accident in Ilion, where a 42-year-old driver struck an elderly couple and their 9-year-old grandson as they were crossing the street.
Across the EU, 20,017 people lost their lives in road accidents in 2024, a marginal 2% decrease from 2023, casting doubt on the effectiveness of Europe’s Road Safety Strategy. The ETSC warns that the EU is on track to miss its target of halving road deaths by 2030, marking the third consecutive decade of unmet goals.
At the other end of the spectrum, Norway, the UK, and Switzerland were named the EU’s safest countries for road travel, with Norway receiving the 2025 PIN Road Safety Award.
