Road accident fatalities in country above EU average

The number of people killed in traffic accidents in Greece is alarmingly high compared to other EU countries. Although the absolute number of fatalities remains lower than pre-pandemic levels (2019), it increased slightly over the last three years (2020-22).

Compared to the rest of the EU, Greece was the fourth worst in 2022 in terms of such fatalities per million inhabitants (71), with experts citing poor driving behavior. The EU average is 46 deaths per million inhabitants.

“In 2021, there was optimism about road safety in Greece, because in the decade 2010-20 we had the largest reduction in the number of deaths in road accidents (-54%) across the EU. In fact, the number of fatalities is increasing,” Panagiotis Papantoniou, president of the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers, told Kathimerini, noting that decrease of previous years was due to new highways, the reduction in private car use during the economic crisis, and better vehicles.