What are the costs of road crashes for society?

Approximately 17% of the overall costs of road crashes [8] is attributable to road deaths (see Figure 12). The majority of the total societal costs of road crashes, about 70%, can be attributed to serious road injuries.

The overall social costs of road crashes were estimated to be 33 billion euros in 2022 (€19 to €44 billion) [8]. This is more than 3% of the gross domestic product. The costs per road death are about €7.2 million. For more information, see SWOV fact sheet Road crash costs.

Figure 12. Share of social costs of road crashes with road deaths, serious/slight/other injuries and property damage only (PDO) in 2022 [8].