In 2020, there were 93 recorded traffic fatalities in Norway. The Scandinavian country had seen the number of road deaths drop significantly in the last ten years and by 2020 reported 18 incidents per one million inhabitants. This was the lowest road fatality prevalence in Europe. The Norwegian Government follows the multi-national road safety plan “Vision Zero”, which seeks to see the number of fatalities and serious injuries reduced to zero. In its “National Plan of Action for Road Safety” the Government elaborated on its short-term goals of having a maximum of 350 such incidents by 2030.

Non-fatal accidents

In order to reach said goals, the country still has some way to go. Despite more than halving the number of road accidents, by 2019 there were still 4,358 people, who had been non-fatally injured on Norwegian roads.

Vehicle stock

In 2019, there were a total of 5.62 million vehicles registered in the country. Passenger cars accounted for the lion’s share of these at 2.8 million and were followed by trailers.

Between 2006 and 2020, road fatalities in Sweden had more than halved. The lowest figure of such fatalities was recorded in 2020 at 206. These figures stand in contrast to an increase in the volume of passenger road transport. In 2019, people travelled a combined 125.4 billion kilometers. Casualty figures also in decline

Much like road fatalities, the number of road traffic casualties declined over the past decade. A total of roughly 18,500 individuals had reportedly been injured in 2018, with figures 26 percent lower than eleven years prior. This was despite a slight increase in the past three years.

Denmark records highest fatality numbers

Among Scandinavian countries, Denmark recorded the greatest number of road traffic related fatalities, which amounted to 32 per million inhabitants. By comparison, fatality figures were lowest in Norway at 20 fatal accidents per million inhabitants.

Norway NO: Road Fatalities: Per One Million Road Motor Vehicles data was reported at 0.291 Ratio in 2023. This records a decrease from the previous number of 0.303 Ratio for 2022. Norway NO: Road Fatalities: Per One Million Road Motor Vehicles data is updated yearly, averaging 0.291 Ratio from Dec 2016 (Median) to 2023, with 8 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.377 Ratio in 2016 and a record low of 0.208 Ratio in 2021. Norway NO: Road Fatalities: Per One Million Road Motor Vehicles data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Norway – Table NO.OECD.ITF: Road Traffic and Road Accident Fatalities: OECD Member: Annual. [COVERAGE] ROAD FATALITIES A road fatality is any person killed immediately or dying within 30 days as a result of an injury accident, excluding suicides. A killed person is excluded if the competent authority declares the cause of death to be suicide, i.e. a deliberate act to injure oneself resulting in death. For countries that do not apply the threshold of 30 days, conversion coefficients are estimated so that comparison on the basis of the 30-day definition can be made. VEHICLES A road motor vehicle is a road vehicle fitted with an engine whence it derives its sole means of propulsion, which is normally used for carrying persons or goods or for drawing, on the road, vehicles used for the carriage of persons or goods. [STAT_CONC_DEF] VEHICLES The stock of road motor vehicles is the number of road motor vehicles registered at a given date in a country and licenced to use roads open to public traffic. This includes road vehicles exempted from annual taxes or licence fee; it also includes imported second-hand vehicles and other road vehicles according to national practices. It should not include military vehicles.

This statistic shows the number of road traffic fatalities in selected Scandinavian countries from 2007 to 2017. Out of the three displayed countries, Norway had the lowest traffic fatality rate in 2017, amounting to 20 deaths per one million inhabitants. The corresponding figure for Sweden was 25 deaths, while in Denmark, on average 32 death per one million inhabitants occurred. Over the years, all three Scandinavian countries recorded a general decline in road traffic fatalities.

An overall decline in the number of road deaths in Russia was observed from 2007, when the highest volume of road fatalities was recorded countrywide in the given timeframe. The temporary growth of five percent between 2010 and 2012 was followed by a significant drop in the number of incidences over the following years. Namely, the count of road deaths in the country reduced nearly twofold by 2020 relative to the 2012 figures, measuring at 16,152 cases in the last observed period.

Mortality rate and causes of death in Russia   

Mortality rate has been gradually declining since 2000 in Russia, yet it remained greater than the rates measured prior to the 1990s. Even though road accidents were not the major cause of fatalities in the country, roughly 183 thousand residents were reported being injured in road traffic incidents in 2020. The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak at the beginning of 2020 ranked Russia as one of the most affected worldwide. The coronavirus-related mortality rate, nonetheless, was measured significantly lower than in most countries with a somewhat similar number of disease cases.

General outlook   

Despite the fact that road fatalities have been in decline in Russia, the country was listed second by road mortality worldwide after Georgia in 2017. The most significant decline in road death rates among the European countries was recorded in Norway in the same year.