The number of road fatalities in the EU in 2022 was up 3% on 2021 but down 10% on 2019, the European Commission said on Wednesday.

According to preliminary figures, around 20,600 people were killed in road crashes last year as traffic levels recovered levels following the pandemic. The final data will be released in the autumn.

The EU and UN target is to halve the number of road deaths by 2030. However, the Commission said, “progress has been very uneven between Member States. The largest decreases, of more than 30%, were reported in Lithuania and Poland, with Denmark also recording a 23% fall. By contrast, over the last three years, the number of road deaths in countries such as Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden has remained rather stable or has risen.”

In 2018, the EU set itself a 50% reduction target for road deaths, aiming to reach zero road deaths by 2050.

The overall ranking of countries’ fatality rates has not changed significantly since prior to the pandemic, the Commission said, with the safest roads in Sweden (21 deaths per one million inhabitants) and Denmark (26/million) while Romania (86/million) and Bulgaria (78/million) reported the highest rates in 2022. The EU average was 46 road deaths per million inhabitants.

In Croatia, there were 71 deaths per one million inhabitants in 2021, which was down 13% on the 2017-19 average.