Bulgaria recorded the sharpest decline in road freight transport in the European Union in 2024, with the sector shrinking by 18.6% compared with the previous year, according to the latest Eurostat data.
The drop placed Bulgaria at the bottom of the EU ranking, while overall road freight transport across the bloc increased slightly by 0.6%. Portugal followed with a decline of 14%, and Luxembourg registered a decrease of 8.6%.
At the same time, 15 EU member states reported growth in road freight activity. The strongest increases were recorded in Slovakia, where transport expanded by 15.9%, followed by Latvia with 12.9% and the Czech Republic with 8.5%. In Croatia, the sector remained unchanged.
Across the European Union, more than 13.1 billion tons of goods were transported by road in 2024, while transport activity reached 1.869 trillion tonne-kilometers. After a decline in 2023, the sector showed signs of recovery, although differences between individual countries remained significant.
Poland continued to lead European road freight transport by transport activity, accounting for 19.7% of all tonne-kilometers in the EU. Germany ranked second with 15%, followed by Spain with 14.5%.
