European Road Safety Observatory

Facts and Figures – Single vehicle crashes -

2023
This document is part of a series of 16 Facts and Figures reports. The purpose of these Facts and
Figures reports is to provide recent statistics related to a specific road safety topic, for example a
specific age group or transport mode. The Facts and Figures reports replace the Basic Fact Sheets
series that were available until 2018 (containing data up to 2016). The most recent figuresin this
Facts and Figures report of 2023 refer to 2020. These reports can be found on the ERSO website
(https://road-safety.transport.ec.europa.eu/statistics-and-analysis/data-and-analysis/facts-and-
figures_en)

Contract This document has been prepared in the framework of the EC Service Contract
MOVE/C2/SER/2019-100/SI2.822066 with Vias institute (BE) and SWOV Institute for
Road Safety Research (NL).
Version Version 1.0, January 2023
Author Freya Slootmans (Vias institute)
Internal review Frits Bijleveld (SWOV)
Referencing Reproduction of this document is allowed with due acknowledgement. Please
refer to the document as follows:
European Commission (2023) Facts and Figures Single vehicle crashes. European
Road Safety Observatory. Brussels, European Commission, Directorate General
for Transport.
Sources Information in this document is based largely on data in the CARE database
(Community database on Accidents on the Roads in Europe). Other data are
taken from Eurostat.
Date of extraction: 9 January 2023

Disclaimer
Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that the material presented in this document is rel -
evant, accurate and up-to-date, the (sub)contractors cannot accept any liability for any error or
omission, or reliance on part or all of the content in another context.
Any information and views set out in this document are those of the author(s) and do not neces -
sarily reflect the official opinion of the European Commission. The Commission does not guaran-
tee the accuracy of the data included in this study. Neither the Commission nor any person act-
ing on the Commission’s behalf may be held 2responsible for the use that may be made of the in -
formation contained here
Facts and Figures Single vehicle crashes

Contents

Contents 3

1 Key Facts 4

2 Summary 5

3 Main trends 6
3.1 Mortality rate: number of single vehicle road fatalities per million inhabitants . . . . 6
3.2 Number of single vehicle fatalities as a proportion of total fatalities . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.3 Trend in the number of single vehicle fatalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.4 Serious injuries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

4 Road user 12
4.1 Gender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.2 Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.3 Transport modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

5 Time 16
5.1 Period of the week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5.2 Day of the week and hour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5.3 Month . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

6 Location 18
6.1 Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
6.2 Light conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
6.3 Road type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

7 Notes 20
7.1 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
7.2 De nitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
7.3 Data source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
7.4 Small cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
7.5 Missing data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

3
 Facts and Figures Single vehicle crashes

1 Key Facts

This Facts and Figures report looks at single vehicle fatalities, which means fatalities in crashes in-
cluding only one moving vehicle. This includes accidents with xed and non- xed obstacles and
animals (pedestrians and parked vehicles are not included), accidents without obstacles (rollover,
leaving the carriageway etc.). All differences reported were derived from the available data, the
statistical signi cance of the differences between values has not been tested.

Age

0 − 24 25 − 64 65+

Single vehicle 23% 58% 18%

fatalities

All fatalities 17% 56% 28%

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Fatalities (%)

Transport modes involved

Pedestrian Motorised two wheelers Lorry/HGV

Cyclist Car occupant Other/unknown

Single vehicle 7% 22% 61% 6%

fatalities

All fatalities 19% 10% 18% 43% 5%

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Fatalities (%)

Period of the week

Working week − daytime Working week − night−time Weekend − daytime Weekend − night−time Unknown

Single vehicle 46% 12% 26% 16%

fatalities

All fatalities 57% 8% 21% 10%

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Fatalities (%)

4
 Facts and Figures Single vehicle crashes

2 Summary

In the EU in 2020, 6,296 people were killed in a single vehicle crash. The number of single vehicle
fatalities has decreased by 30% in the last decade, and amounts to about 30% of all road fatalities.
The mortality rate (the number of single vehicle road fatalities per million inhabitants) is high in
parts of Eastern Europe and Southern Europe. The proportion of single vehicle fatalities within all
road fatalities is highest in Southern and Western Europe.

85% of all single vehicle fatalities are men, compared to 78% for all road fatalities. The age distri-
bution of single vehicle fatalities differs from the age distribution of road fatalities generally. The
proportion of young people (up to 24 years old) fatalities is higher in single vehicle crashes compared
to all road crashes. In 2020, 23% of single vehicle fatalities were 24-year-olds or younger, compared
to 17% of all fatalities.

Car occupants and motorcyclists have the highest share of fatalities in single vehicle crashes. For
cyclists and pedestrians, the share in single vehicle fatalities is lower compared to all fatalities.

There are proportionally more single vehicle fatalities during weekend nights (16% versus 10% of
all fatalities), especially between midnight and the very early morning hours. Single vehicle fatalities
also occur slightly more often in darkness compared to all road fatalities.

Basic de nitions
Single vehicle crash:
Crashes including only one moving vehicle. Includes accidents with xed and non- xed obstacles
and animals (pedestrians and parked vehicles are not included), accidents without obstacles
(rollover, leaving the carriageway etc.).

Fatalities:
Total number of persons fatally injured; correction factors applied when needed. Death within 30
days of the road crash, con rmed suicides and natural deaths are not included.

Seriously injured:
Total number of seriously injured persons adjusted by correction factors when needed. Injured
(although not killed) in the road crash and, in principle, hospitalised for at least 24 hours within 30
days from the crash.

More detailed data:

This Facts and Figures report is accompanied by an Excel le (available online) containing a large set
of additional detailed data. Each sheet in the Excel le corresponds to a Figure/Table in the report.

5
 Facts and Figures Single vehicle crashes

3 Main trends

3.1 Mortality rate: number of single vehicle road fatalities per million inhabitants
The single vehicle mortality rate is highest in countries in Eastern Europe, but this ratio is also
high in countries in Southern Europe such as Greece and Italy. Latvia and Greece have mortality
rates above 25 fatalities per million inhabitants. Sweden, Estonia, Denmark and Slovenia have the
lowest mortality rates.

Figure 1. Single vehicle fatalities per million inhabitants per country in the EU27 (2020). Source: CARE

Latvia 27.3
Greece 25.7
Portugal 22.1
Romania 21.4
Bulgaria 21
Poland 18.7
France 17
Luxembourg 16
Austria 15.6
Belgium 15.4
Czechia 15.2
Finland 14.8
Croatia 14.5
Slovakia 14.1
EU27 14.1
Italy 13.1
Netherlands 11.8
Lithuania 11.8
Spain 10.7
Germany 10.5
Hungary 10
Slovenia 9.5
Denmark 9.4
Estonia 8.3
Sweden (2019) 7.3

0 10 20 30
Single vehicle fatalities per million inhabitants
Notes:
− Cyprus and Ireland are not included in the Figure because there is no data for the last years
− Malta is not included in the Figure because there were fewer than 10 fatalities in 2020

0 to 10
10 to 13
13 to 15
15 to 20
20 to 30
Missing

© EuroGeographics for the administrative boundaries

6
Facts and Figures Single vehicle crashes

3.2 Number of single vehicle fatalities as a proportion of total fatalities

The mortality rate is an important indicator, but does not take into account differences in the gen-
eral road safety performance across countries. In other words, the mortality rate for single vehicle
crashes in a speci c country may be high because the total mortality rate for all road crashes in
that country is also high. Therefore, it is important to also look at the proportion or share of single
vehicle fatalities within the total number of road fatalities.

The proportion of single vehicle fatalities within all road fatalities is highest in Southern and
Western Europe. Greece, France, Portugal, Austria and the Netherlands all have a share of single
vehicle fatalities of 40% or more. This share is lowest in Estonia and Lithuania.

Figure 2. Proportion of single vehicle fatalities within the total number of fatalities, per country in the EU27 (2020). Source:
CARE

Greece 47%
France 43%
Portugal 42%
Austria 40%
Netherlands 40%
Luxembourg 38%
Latvia 37%
Spain 37%
Finland 37%
Belgium 36%
Sweden (2019) 34%
Denmark 34%
EU27 34%
Italy 33%
Germany 32%
Czechia 32%
Bulgaria 32%
Slovakia 31%
Poland 28%
Romania 25%
Slovenia 25%
Croatia 25%
Hungary 21%
Lithuania 19%
Estonia 19%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Proportion of single vehicle fatalities within total fatalities
Notes:
− Ireland and Cyprus are not included in the Figure because there is no data for the last years
− Malta is not included in the Figure because there were fewer than 10 fatalities

0 to 25
25 to 30
30 to 35
35 to 40
40 to 50
Missing

© EuroGeographics for the administrative boundaries

7
Facts and Figures Single vehicle crashes

3.3 Trend in the number of single vehicle fatalities

The number of single vehicle fatalities has decreased by 30% in the time period 2011-2020,
which is similar to the overall decrease in all road fatalities (-34%). The share of single vehicle fatal-
ities within all road fatalities has remained relatively stable over the last decade.

Figure 3. Annual number of single vehicle fatalities, and their share within the total number of fatalities in the EU27
(2011-2020). Source: CARE

33%
32%
32%

30%
31%

31%

31%

31%
30%
30%

30%
7500
Number of fatalities

20% Share of total fatalities

Share (%)
5000

Single vehicle fatalities

10%
2500
9044

8471

7566

7284

7556

7219

7204

7020

7005

6296

0 0%
2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

For the graph below, three-year-averages are compared. The overall percentage change for the
EU amounts to 19%. In the Netherlands and Sweden, the number of single vehicle fatalities has
increased. The largest decrease in single vehicle fatalities is found in Estonia, followed by Croatia
and Belgium.

8
Facts and Figures Single vehicle crashes

Figure 4. Percentage change in the number of single vehicle fatalities per country in the EU27 (2018-2020 and 2011-2013).
Source: CARE

Netherlands 25%
Sweden (2017−2019) 1%
Finland −7%
France −10%
Denmark −10%
Portugal −11%
Luxembourg −13%
Spain −15%
Romania −18%
Latvia −18%
Germany −19%
EU27 −19%
Hungary −20%
Czechia −22%
Italy −23%
Bulgaria −23%
Poland −24%
Austria −24%
Slovenia −31%
Greece −34%
Belgium −35%
Croatia −39%
Estonia −51%

−60% −40% −20% 0% 20%

Fatalities (%)
Notes:
− Countries that are not included in the Figure are Cyprus, Ireland, Malta and Slovakia because there is not
enough data on single vehicle fatalities in the time series 2011−2020
− For Sweden, the trend is calculated by comparing the time period 2010−2012 with the time period 2017−2019

9
Facts and Figures Single vehicle crashes

Table 1. Number of and trend in single vehicle fatalities per country in the EU27 and EFTA (2011-2013 versus 2018-2020).
Source: CARE

2011 2018 2019 2020 Trend 2018 - 2020 vs 2013 - 2011 Miniplot: trend since 2011

Austria 190 144 116 139 -24%

Belgium 325 195 229 177 -35%

Bulgaria 253 192 196 146 -23%

Croatia 175 120 102 59

Czechia 246 180 202 163 -22%

Denmark 69 39 63 55 -10%

Estonia 29 10 16 11 -51%

EU27 9044 7,020 7,005 6296 -19%

Finland 99 88 73 82 -7%

France 1462 1,233 1,308 1101 -10%

Germany 1267 960 899 874 -19%

Greece 446 274 280 276 -34%

Hungary 158 108 125 98 -20%

Iceland 5 9 3 2

Italy 1168 909 915 781 -23%

Latvia 54 29 41 52 -18%

Lithuania - 43 46 33

Luxembourg 12 18 12 10 -13%

Malta - 11 4 -

Netherlands 167 193 223 205 25%

Norway 61 44 38 32 -38%

Poland 1046 728 700 711 -24%

Portugal 334 261 282 228 -11%

Romania 538 471 416 413 -18%

Slovakia - 59 64 77

Slovenia 30 25 23 20 -31%

Spain 713 613 595 506 -15%

Sweden 107 117 75 -

Note:
The trend is not shown if there are less than 10 fatalities in one year

10
Facts and Figures Single vehicle crashes

3.4 Serious injuries

In 2020, 33% of all serious injuries occurred in a single vehicle crash. This share of single vehicle
serious injuries within the total number of serious injuries has increased slightly over the last decade.

Figure 5. Share of single vehicle serious injuries within the total number of serious injuries in the EU27 (2011-2020).
Source: CARE

40%

33%
Share of total serious injuries (%)

30%
30%

30%
30%

29%

29%

29%

29%

29%
30%

20%

10%

0%
2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020
Notes:
−Countries that are not included in the Figure are Cyprus, France, the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy and Estonia due to
problems of comparability, missing data or a break in the time series
−Germany accounts for a disproportionately high share of all serious injuries

11
 Facts and Figures Single vehicle crashes

4 Road user

4.1 Gender
78% of all road fatalities in 2020 are men, compared to 85% of single vehicle fatalities. Large dif-
ferences can be observed between EU Member States. The proportion of single vehicle fatalities
ranges between 9% (Portugal) and 27% (Lithuania).

Figure 6. Distribution of single vehicle fatalities and all fatalities by gender in the EU27 (2020). Source: CARE

Female Male

Single vehicle fatalities 15% 85%

All fatalities 22% 78%

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Fatalities (%)

Figure 7. Distribution of single vehicle fatalities by gender per country in the EU27 (2020). Source: CARE

Female Male

Lithuania 27% 73%

Netherlands 22% 78%
Finland 21% 79%
Bulgaria 18% 82%
Estonia 18% 82%
Poland 18% 82%
Sweden (2019) 16% 84%
Belgium 16% 84%
Austria 16% 84%
Croatia 15% 85%
France 15% 85%
Germany 15% 85%
Spain 15% 85%
EU27 15% 85%
Romania 15% 85%
Latvia 14% 86%
Italy 12% 88%
Slovakia 12% 88%
Hungary 11% 89%
Greece 11% 89%
Denmark 11% 89%
Slovenia 10% 90%
Luxembourg 10% 90%
Czechia 10% 90%
Portugal 9% 91%

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Notes:
− Countries that are not included in the Figure are Cyprus and Ireland because these countries have missing
values in the last years
− Malta is not included in the Figure because there were fewer than 10 fatalities

12
Facts and Figures Single vehicle crashes

4.2 Age
The age distribution of single vehicle fatalities differs from the age distribution of road fatalities
generally. The proportion of young people (up to 24 years old) fatalities is higher in single vehicle
crashes compared to all road crashes. In 2020, 23% of single vehicle fatalities were 24-year-olds or
younger, compared to 17% of all fatalities. The proportion of fatalities aged 65 or older is lower in
single vehicle crashes compared to all fatalities.

The proportion of single vehicle fatalities among those aged 24 or less ranges between 10% and
36% in the EU Member States.

Figure 8. Distribution of single vehicle fatalities and all fatalities by age group in the EU27 (2011-2020). Source: CARE &
EUROSTAT

0 − 24 25 − 64 65+

All fatalities Population

75% 75%
56% 56% 55%
54%
50% 50%

28% 27%
23% 26%
25% 21% 25% 18% 21%
17%

0% 0%
% Fatalities

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020
SIngle vehicle fatalities

75%
58% 58%
50%

29%
25% 23%
18%
12%

0%
2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

13
Facts and Figures Single vehicle crashes

Figure 9. Distribution of single vehicle fatalities by age group per country in the EU27 (2020). Source: CARE

0 − 24 25 − 64 65+

Croatia 36% 51% 14%

Lithuania 33% 61% 6%
Poland 32% 57% 11%
Finland 28% 54% 18%
France 28% 55% 17%
Denmark 27% 49% 24%
Netherlands 25% 49% 26%
Bulgaria 25% 62% 13%
Austria 24% 56% 19%
Latvia 24% 69% 8%
Belgium 23% 61% 15%
EU27 23% 58% 19%
Hungary 22% 66% 11%
Slovakia 22% 63% 14%
Romania 22% 60% 17%
Germany 22% 54% 24%
Slovenia 20% 70% 10%
Greece 19% 61% 19%
Czechia 19% 61% 19%
Estonia 18% 73% 9%
Italy 18% 59% 23%
Sweden (2019) 15% 56% 29%
Portugal 14% 66% 20%
Spain 13% 68% 19%
Luxembourg 10% 70% 20%

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Notes:
− Countries that are not included in the Figure are Cyprus and Ireland because these countries have missing
values in the last years
− Malta is not included in the Figure because there were fewer than 10 fatalities

4.3 Transport modes

The proportion of single vehicle fatalities is highest for car occupants (61%), followed by motorcycles
(18%). Their share is in these crashes is also greater compared to all road crashes. For cyclists,
the share in single vehicle fatalities is lower compared to all fatalities. Given that evidence shows
underreporting of single vehicle bicycle crashes, the picture for cyclists is likely to be even more
serious (Nuyttens, 2013).

14
Facts and Figures Single vehicle crashes

Figure 10. Distribution of single vehicle fatalities by transport mode in the EU27 (2020). Source: CARE

100%
7%
17%
Pedestrian
19% 9% Cyclist
75%
Moped
14%
Motorcycle
50% Car occupant
61% Lorry under 3.5 tonnes
49%
Heavy goods vehicle
25%
Bus/coach occupant
Other/unknown
0%
Single vehicle

All fatalities
fatalities

15
 Facts and Figures Single vehicle crashes

5 Time

5.1 Period of the week

Single vehicle fatalities occur more often at night compared to all fatalities. There are proportion-
ally more single vehicle fatalities during weekend nights especially (16% versus 10% of all
fatalities).

Figure 11. Distribution of single vehicle fatalities and all fatalities according to period of the week in the EU27 (2020).
Source: CARE

Working week − daytime Working week − night−time

Weekend − daytime Weekend − night−time

All fatalities 60% 8% 22% 10%

Single vehicle fatalities 46% 12% 26% 16%

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Fatalities (%)

5.2 Day of the week and hour

The graph below shows that single vehicle fatalities do indeed occur proportionally more often dur-
ing weekend nights, especially between midnight and the very early morning hours.

Figure 12. Distribution of single vehicle fatalities and all fatalities by day of the week and hour in the EU27 (2015-2020).
Source: CARE

All fatalities Single vehicle fatalities

1.2%

0.9%
% Fatalities

0.6%

0.3%
0
6
12
18
0
6
12
18
0
6
12
18
0
6
12
18
0
6
12
18
0
6
12
18
0
6
12
18

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

16
Facts and Figures Single vehicle crashes

5.3 Month
The share of single vehicle fatalities is highest during the summer months (June until August) and
lowest in January and February. The same distribution across the months of the year can be noted
for all road fatalities.

Figure 13. Monthly distribution of single vehicle fatalities and all fatalities, in the EU27 (2019). Source: CARE

15%

10%
% fatalities

Single vehicle fatalities

All fatalities
5%

0%
September

December
November
February
January

October
August
March

June
April

May

July

17
 Facts and Figures Single vehicle crashes

6 Location

6.1 Surface
Surface conditions were dry for 75% of single vehicle fatalities and wet for 21% of those fatalities.
For only 1% of these fatalities were the surface conditions snowy, frosty, or icy. The same ndings
apply to all fatalities generally.

6.2 Light conditions

Single vehicle fatalities happen proportionally slightly more often in darkness, and less often during
daylight, compared to all road fatalities generally.

Figure 14. Distribution of single vehicle fatalities and all fatalities by light conditions in the EU27 (2020). Source: CARE

Daylight Darkness Twilight Unknown

Single vehicle fatalities 48% 32% 6% 15%

All fatalities 51% 28% 5% 16%

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Fatalities (%)

6.3 Road type

Single vehicle fatalities occur proportionally more often on rural roads, and proportionally less often
on urban roads compared to all fatalities.

18
Facts and Figures Single vehicle crashes

Figure 15. Distribution of single vehicle fatalities and all fatalities by type of road in the EU27 (2020). Source: CARE

Motorway Rural Urban Unknown

Single vehicle fatalities 7% 59% 33%

All fatalities 8% 51% 38%

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Fatalities (%)

19
 Facts and Figures Single vehicle crashes

7 Notes

7.1 References
Nuyttens, N. (2013) Onderregistratie van verkeersslachtoffers. Vergelijking van de gegevens over
zwaar gewonde verkeersslachtoffers in de ziekenhuizen met deze in de nationale ongevallenstat-
istieken.

7.2 De nitions
The de nitions below are taken from the CADAS Glossary and the UNECE Glossary.

CADAS Glossary: https://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/system/files/2021-07/cadas_glossar

y_v_3_8.pdf

UNECE/ITF/Eurostat Glossary: https://www.unece.org/index.php?id=52120

Accident / crash
De nition: injury road accident, concerns an incident on a public road involving at least one moving
vehicle and at least one casualty (person injured or killed). Note: the de nition of “injury” varies
considerably among EU countries thus affecting the reliability of cross country comparisons.

Fatalities
De nition: total number of persons fatally injured; correction factors applied when needed. Death
within 30 days of the road crash, con rmed suicides and natural deaths are not included.

Victims
Total of fatalities, seriously injured and slightly injured and injured.

Seriously injured
Total number of seriously injured persons corrected by correction factors when needed. Injured
(although not killed) in the road crash and, in principle, hospitalised for at least 24 hours within 30
days from the crash.

Road inside urban areas

Public road inside urban boundary signs.

Working week – daytime

Monday to Friday 6.00 a.m. to 9.59 p.m.

Working week – night

Monday 10 p.m. to Tuesday 5.59 a.m.
Tuesday 10 p.m. to Wednesday 5.59 a.m.
Wednesday 10 p.m. to Thursday 5.59 a.m.
Thursday 10 p.m. to Friday 5.59 a.m.

Weekend – daytime
Saturday to Sunday 6.00 a.m. to 9.59 p.m.

Weekend – night
Friday 10 p.m. to Saturday 5.59 a.m.
Saturday 10 p.m. to Sunday 5.59 a.m.
Sunday 10 p.m. to Monday 5.59 a.m.

20
Facts and Figures Single vehicle crashes

Single vehicle crash

Crashes including only one moving vehicle. Includes accidents with xed and non- xed obstacles
and animals (pedestrians and parked vehicles are not included), accidents without obstacles
(rollover, leaving the carriageway etc.).

7.3 Data source

The main data source for this report is CARE (Community database on Accidents on the Roads in
Europe). The database contains data obtained from national data sources, not only EU members but
also from the UK (up to 2018) and the 4 EFTA countries (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechten-
stein). The data in the report were extracted on 6 September 2021. As the database is not complete
for all countries and all years, additional data were provided by the European Commission in order
to be able to calculate the general total for fatalities for the EU27.

7.4 Small cells

Absolute numbers of fatalities can be very small for small countries, which can strongly in uence
trend indicators and other derived indicators such as mortality. Care should be taken when in-
terpreting these numbers. When commenting on the Figures, countries with small numbers were
omitted.

7.5 Missing data

Some countries did not provide data for all years and/or all variables to the CARE database. When
data are missing for speci c combinations of years and countries, imputation is used to ll in the
empty cells. Imputation results for individual countries are never published in the Facts and Fig-
ures reports, but they are aggregated to generate an imputed number at EU27 level. The following
imputation method for individual countries is used:

• Values missing at the end of a time series are given the last known value in the series.

• Values missing at the beginning of a time series are given the rst known value in the series.

• If values are missing in the middle of a time series, linear extrapolation is used.

21