Five times Germany’s rate
In 2024, accidents at work killed 14.24 people per 100,000 working in construction in Croatia, and 2.85 in Germany. Croatia’s rate is five times Germany’s and more than twice the European Union’s, which stood at 6.13. The figures come from Eurostat’s statistics on accidents at work, updated on 25 September 2026.
Among the 27 member states only Bulgaria was higher, at 16.48; Portugal followed Croatia at 10.85. At the other end, Slovakia recorded 2 and the Netherlands 0.79, each on three deaths. France stood at 8.78, Italy at 8.21, Spain at 7.69 and Poland at 5.62.
Counted in deaths rather than rates, the order reverses: 81 people died in German construction in 2024, against 22 in Croatia. Germany has far more construction workers, and a rate divides by them. In Croatia, construction accounted for 22 of the 48 fatal accidents at work recorded that year; in the European Union, for 776 of 3,367.
| Member state | Deaths per 100,000 | Deaths |
|---|---|---|
| European Union | 6.13 | 776 |
| Bulgaria | 16.48 | 26 |
| Croatia | 14.24 | 22 |
| Portugal | 10.85 | 39 |
| Greece | 9.1 | 17 |
| Estonia | 8.92 | 4 |
| Malta | 8.85 | 2 |
| Slovenia | 8.84 | 7 |
| France | 8.78 | 131 |
| Italy | 8.21 | 132 |
| Romania | 7.85 | 39 |
| Spain | 7.69 | 108 |
| Hungary | 7.5 | 22 |
| Czechia | 6.93 | 17 |
| Latvia | 6.69 | 4 |
| Lithuania | 5.75 | 6 |
| Poland | 5.62 | 59 |
| Austria | 5.15 | 17 |
| Belgium | 4.3 | 9 |
| Luxembourg | 4.19 | 2 |
| Denmark | 3.11 | 6 |
| Ireland | 2.91 | 5 |
| Germany | 2.85 | 81 |
| Sweden | 2.67 | 10 |
| Cyprus | 2.59 | 1 |
| Finland | 2.31 | 4 |
| Slovakia | 2 | 3 |
| Netherlands | 0.79 | 3 |
What counts as a death at work
Eurostat counts an accident at work when something happens in the course of work and causes harm, and a fatal one when the victim dies within a year. Road accidents while working are included; accidents on the way to or from work are not, nor are deliberate self-harm and deaths from strictly natural causes.
The rate divides those deaths by the number of people working in construction, per 100,000. Nothing else is adjusted: Eurostat publishes no standardised rate for a single sector, so the figure describes construction as each country’s own building trade lived it.
The two countries do not count exactly the same people. Croatia’s figures cover employees and the self-employed; Germany’s cover employees only. Each rate divides its deaths by the workers it covers, so the comparison holds, but the two populations are not identical. Eurostat considers the comparability of reported fatal accidents between countries very high, while noting that recognition practices can differ.
- THE EVENT: an accident in the course of work that causes harm, on the site, elsewhere or on the road while working. Accidents on the way to or from work, deliberate self-harm and deaths from strictly natural causes are not counted.
- THE DEADLINE: an accident is fatal when the victim dies within one year of it.
- THE RATE: those deaths divided by the number of people working in construction, per 100,000. Croatia counts employees and the self-employed, Germany employees only; each divides by the workers it covers.
So 14.24 in Croatia does not say that every Croatian site is five times as dangerous as every German one: it says that in 2024, for each 100,000 people working in Croatian construction, 14.24 died after an accident at work, against 2.85 in Germany.
One event, one deadline and one division, and a reading that forgets any of them says what the source does not.
Five years, not one
Croatia’s rate has stayed between 13.9 and 14.86 every year since 2020, and Germany’s between 2.85 and 3.56. Year by year, Croatia’s rate was between 3.9 and 5.2 times Germany’s. The European Union’s moved between 6.08 and 6.49.
The comparison starts in 2020 because every country’s series breaks there. Eurostat flags 2020 as a break in time series for all of them, so no figure before it is set against a later one here.
Bulgaria shows why one year is not enough. Its rate was 6.31 in 2021 and 19.27 in 2023, on 9 and 29 deaths. Croatia’s, on 17 to 22 deaths a year, did not swing that way, which is why this edition rests on Croatia rather than on the top of the 2024 ranking.
| Year | Croatia | Germany | EU | Bulgaria | Croatia, deaths | Germany, deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 13.9 | 3.56 | 6.08 | 15.22 | 17 | 94 |
| 2021 | 13.95 | 3.17 | 6.49 | 6.31 | 18 | 86 |
| 2022 | 14.86 | 2.94 | 6.13 | 15.07 | 20 | 81 |
| 2023 | 14.85 | 2.88 | 6.37 | 19.27 | 21 | 84 |
| 2024 | 14.24 | 2.85 | 6.13 | 16.48 | 22 | 81 |
What these figures do not say
They do not say why. Nothing here measures training, inspections, subcontracting, the age of the workers or where they come from, and no national policy is assessed.
They do not say how safe any one site or employer is. A national rate averages every site in the country, and on 22 deaths a single accident moves Croatia’s rate by about 0.65.
They cover deaths only, in 2024 and the four years before it. Non-fatal accidents are reported very differently from country to country and are left out, no year before 2020 is compared, and none of this is a forecast.
