Portugal barely cuts road deaths, PIN report finds

Over the past decade, deaths on Portugal’s roads have gone from 638 to… 634. That is the picture set out in the latest Annual Report from the Road Safety Performance Index (PIN). Shared by the Portuguese Road Prevention Association (Prevenção Rodoviária Portuguesa, PRP), it places Portugal among the countries with the weakest performance in cutting road-traffic deaths.

Across Europe, the average number of people killed in road collisions fell by 17.2% between 2014 and 2024. Portugal, however, managed only 0.6%-far short of what was expected.

European targets imply an annual reduction of around 6.1%, with a clear aim: halve the number of deaths on Portugal’s roads by 2030. Yet between 2023 and 2024, Portugal’s decrease was just 1.2%, from 642 to 634 fatalities.

Last year, an average of 60 people per million inhabitants died on Portugal’s roads. The European Union average stands at 45 deaths per million. The best-performing countries for road safety are Norway (16 deaths per million inhabitants) and Sweden (20 deaths per million).

Serious injuries rose

For PRP, the concern is not limited to the near standstill in fatalities. The report also indicates that Portugal is seeing a worrying deterioration when it comes to serious injuries.

Over the last decade, the number of people seriously injured increased by 24.4%, a trend that runs counter to Europe-wide efforts to reduce road harm. “This indicator shows that, even when crashes do not result in death, the severity of injuries has been intensifying,” the association says.

EU stalled

The European Union as a whole also underperformed: in 2024, road deaths dropped by only 2% compared with the previous year. The total reached 20 017 fatalities, with eight countries recording increases, including Switzerland and Estonia.

Even so, progress was made. An estimated 23 800 lives were saved. But if every country had managed to meet the European plan, that figure could have been more than double: 49 600 lives saved.

Urgent need for coordinated action

Against this backdrop, the Portuguese Road Prevention Association is calling for a stronger and more coordinated response.
“The PIN 2025 report serves as an unequivocal warning: without a paradigm shift in how road safety is approached, Portugal risks drifting progressively further away from its European partners in protecting citizens on the roads,” warns Rosa Pita, PRP Vice-President.

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