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2.88 million non-fatal work accidents in the EU in 2021

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In 2021, nearly 2.88 million non-fatal work accidents in the EU resulted in workers being absent from work for four days or more, up by 6% compared with 2020 (+150 941 accidents). This increase is probably linked to the economic recovery that followed the 2020 general slowdown related to the COVID-19 pandemic. 3 347 work-related accidents in 2021 were fatal (0.1% of the total number of accidents), indicating a decrease of 11 cases compared with 2020.

Information on work-related accidents is often analysed based on their severity, meaning the number of full calendar days the victim is unfit for work due to an accident at work.  

In 2021, as in 2020, accidents that led to 7–13 days' absence from work were the most frequent type of accident, reaching a total of 761 988 (26% of the total). 

Accidents that resulted in 1–3 months of absence from work were the second-most frequent type in 2021 (543 076; 19% of the total number of accidents). The less severe types of accidents (4-6 days absence from work) were the third-most frequent (487 049; 17% of the total). 

In 2021, fatal accidents were the least frequent type by severity. Excluding accidents with severity ‘not specified’, accidents resulting in a permanent incapacity to work were the second less frequent type of accident, 136 290 (5% of the total) in 2021.
 

bar chart: number of accidents at work by level of severity based on absence from work (2020 and 2021)

Source dataset: hsw_n2_04 

In 2021, almost all sectors of the economy recorded more accidents than in 2020. Most notably, the ‘arts, entertainment and recreation’ sector recorded a significant increase in accidents (+21%), closely followed by the ‘administrative and support service activities’ sector (+19%) and the ‘transportation and storage’ sector (+15%). 

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This information comes from data on accidents at work published by Eurostat. This article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article.

More information

Methodological note

  • An accident at work is defined as an occurrence during the course of work, which leads to physical or mental harm. Fatal accidents at work are those that lead to the death of the victim within one year of the accident taking place. Non-fatal accidents at work are defined as those that imply at least four full calendar days of absence from work (they are sometimes also called ‘serious accidents at work’). The number of accidents in a particular year is likely to be related to some extent to the overall level of economic activity of a country and the total number of people employed in its economy. 

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