Recent statistics from the Swedish Transport Agency show the number of accidents involving e-scooters rose by 38 percent in 2025 compared with the previous year. A total of seven people died and 6,498 were injured.
The increase is visible in all age groups, but it is mainly young people who are seriously injured. Almost half of those seriously injured on e-scooters are under 25, and around two-thirds are men.
Compared with 2024, fatalities and injuries among 0–24-year-olds increased by just over 43 percent in 2025.
Severe injuries
Ragnar Ang, chief physician and trauma surgeon at Sahlgrenska Hospital in Gothenburg, is not surprised by the figures.
"There has been a shift toward young people being affected more; we have seen a big increase. There are a lot of children coming in with head injuries. My colleagues at Queen Silvia's Children's Hospital can see ten children come in on a Saturday," he says.
Ang says that e-scooter riders who need inpatient care often have head injuries.
"It's brain hemorrhages or facial fractures," he says.
"And it stands out. It's a new patient group. Cyclists can also fall, but they often wear helmets. But with an e-scooter you fall faster, so to speak. You can't brace yourself and you don't have a helmet."
Privately owned scooters a problem
The Swedish Transport Agency's statistics clearly show that the number of injured e-scooter riders is increasing in small towns where there are no rental options, which, according to the authority, indicates an increase in privately owned vehicles.
"There are fewer problems with rental scooters now. They have lower speeds in the evenings. But when it comes to privately owned ones, they go very fast, and children ride them. Only 50 percent wear helmets, and they often ride two at a time. Not long ago we had a 15-year-old come in with a brain hemorrhage. Young people die if you don't operate on such an injury," says Ragnar Ang.
