Truck Driver Shortage in Europe: 502,000 Drivers Missing — Who Will Keep Europe’s Freight Moving?

September 16, 2026

The truck driver shortage in Europe has a number now. And the number is 502,000.

That is how many truck driver positions are currently sitting empty across the continent — not globally, not across all transport modes, but specifically in European road freight. Roughly the population of a mid-sized European capital city. All of them qualified. All of them simply not there.

Your load is ready. The warehouse is packed. The booking is confirmed. And then the call comes: no driver available. The truck is not coming. Try again tomorrow.

If that has happened to you, it is not bad luck. It is the truck driver shortage in Europe making itself felt in your supply chain. And according to the latest IRU driver shortage survey, it is going to keep making itself felt — because this is not a market blip. It is a structural crisis that has been building for decades and is accelerating.

Here is what is actually happening, why the problem is getting worse instead of better, and what it means for everyone who moves freight on European roads.

502,000: The Number Behind Europe's Truck Driver Shortage

Let’s start with the scale — because the number has been growing so fast that even people who follow this industry closely have not fully absorbed it.

502,000

Truck driver positions unfilled across Europe (13% shortage rate)

Source: IRU 2025 Driver Shortage Survey

In 2023, the IRU recorded 233,000 unfilled driver positions across Europe. By 2024, that had grown to 426,000. Now — 502,000. The truck driver shortage in Europe has more than doubled in two years.

Whatever was being done to close the gap has not been enough. And the trend line does not look like a problem correcting itself — it looks like a problem accelerating.

The IRU projects that approximately 660,500 European truck drivers will retire by 2030. On current trends, the shortage could reach 745,000 unfilled positions by 2028. That is not a forecast designed to frighten people. It is simple mathematics applied to demographics — and the demographics are unambiguous.

"The driver shortage is no longer closely linked to short-term economic cycles." — IRU, 2025

That sentence matters more than it might appear. Previous driver shortage episodes in Europe did self-correct — when freight demand softened, the gap narrowed. This one has not. The shortage persisted even through periods of weaker freight demand, which tells you something important: this is not a market cycle problem. It is a structural one. And structural problems do not fix themselves.

Why the Truck Driver Shortage in Europe Keeps Getting Worse

Ask most people why there is a driver shortage and you get vague answers: ‘nobody wants to drive trucks anymore’ or ‘young people prefer desk jobs.’ The reality is more specific — and more fixable, if the right people decide to actually fix it.

The workforce is retiring faster than it is being replaced

The average European truck driver is 47 years old. Nearly a third of the entire workforce — 31.6% — is already over 55. In Italy, that reaches 45%. In Spain, half of all truck drivers are within a decade of retirement.

At the other end of the age spectrum, drivers under 25 make up just 6.5% of the European workforce. And according to the IRU’s 2024 report, that share fell by another 5.8% in a single year. The profession is getting older at both ends simultaneously: experienced drivers leaving faster than young ones arrive.

31.6%

of European truck drivers are already over 55. In Spain: 50%.

Think about what that actually means. In the country that processes some of the most important freight corridors in southern Europe, half the driver workforce is within striking distance of retirement — and less than 7% of replacements are already in the profession. That is not a shortage in the making. It is a shortage already happening, with a second wave right behind it.

The licence costs thousands and takes months — before you earn a cent

Here is a concrete barrier that does not get enough attention: getting a professional heavy goods vehicle licence in the EU typically costs between €4,000 and €7,000 and takes several months. Medical certification. Theory tests. Practical training. The Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC). All of it upfront, before a single paid kilometre.

Compare that to entering as a warehouse operative, a last-mile delivery driver, or a logistics coordinator — all of which require minimal qualification cost and can start paying within days of applying. For a 22-year-old weighing career options, the maths is not complicated.

The IRU has repeatedly called for subsidised training and lower age thresholds for professional licences. Implementation has been slow and inconsistent across member states. The barrier is real, it is documented, and it remains largely unaddressed.

The job is hard — and the conditions have not kept pace with expectations

The IRU’s Truck Driver Barometer surveyed 1,100 drivers across seven major European markets. The findings are striking: 90% of European drivers cite the lack of equipped and secure resting areas as a key factor explaining the shortage. Not 40%. Not 60%. Ninety percent.

A further 85% cite poor treatment at delivery and collection sites. Weeks away from home. Irregular hours. Pressure to meet tight windows regardless of road conditions or legal driving time limits. These are the lived realities of the job — and they are the reason experienced drivers leave and young workers choose something else before they start.

What drivers actually say is driving them away

90% cite lack of safe, equipped parking and rest areas. 85% cite poor treatment at loading and delivery sites. 75% say the profession's poor public image is a factor. These are not abstract complaints — they are verified findings from the IRU's 2024 Truck Driver Barometer survey of 1,100 European drivers.

The profession is invisible to the next generation

Over 75% of drivers surveyed by IRU say the poor image of the profession is a relevant factor in the shortage. Truck driving is almost never presented as a career in schools or universities. The role is associated — often unfairly — with isolation, limited prospects, and hard physical conditions. This perception problem starts before young people ever seriously consider the option, and it starts in education systems that have largely ignored logistics as a source of viable career pathways.

Half the potential workforce is barely being recruited

Female employment in European truck driving remains critically low across every market. The IRU’s 2024 report is direct about this: the profession is effectively recruiting from roughly half the available labour pool and largely ignoring the other half. The changes most cited by women as barriers to entry — rest facilities, safety at overnight stops, physical infrastructure of the job — are the same changes that 90% of current drivers are already asking for. Addressing them serves both retention and recruitment simultaneously.

What the Truck Driver Shortage Is Actually Costing European Freight

The driver shortage is not an HR problem that stays inside HR departments. Its effects are measurable in rates, in rejected loads, in contracts that never get signed, and in supply chains that have quietly become less reliable than they were three years ago.

Rates are rising — and the driver is a big reason why

Driver costs are the single largest operating expense for European road freight operators after fuel. When experienced drivers become scarce, competition to hire and retain them pushes wages upward — and those wages end up in the rates that shippers pay.

The 2025 data is instructive. Spanish drivers on international operations saw wages rise 5.1% year-on-year. Italian operators agreed new contracts delivering increases of over €500 per month. In Greece, Bulgaria, Latvia, and Hungary, transport labour costs posted double-digit percentage increases — in a single year.

According to the IRU Q4 2025 European Road Freight Rates report, contract rates climbed throughout 2025 with the driver shortage named as one of the primary cost pressures — even in periods when freight demand itself was soft. When demand picks up again, the driver shortage will limit how fast capacity can respond. That means rates rise faster than they otherwise would.

Two-thirds of operators are already turning away business

Here is the number that most directly affects shippers: roughly two-thirds of European transport operators have rejected new contracts because they could not find enough drivers to fulfil them. Half of European trucking companies cannot expand their operations due to workforce constraints.

65%

of European transport operators say driver shortage is their main business concern.

That is the capacity ceiling the industry is bumping against right now. When that ceiling is in place, shippers — particularly those relying on spot market access for urgent loads — encounter tighter availability and higher rates than the underlying demand level would otherwise produce. The capacity just is not there, and no amount of urgency creates drivers that do not exist.

Fleet investment is slowing down too

Here is a knock-on effect that rarely makes headlines: heavy goods vehicle registrations across Europe fell 6% in 2025 compared to 2024. Operators are reluctant to invest in trucks they cannot staff. The truck driver shortage is suppressing fleet renewal — which in turn limits the industry’s capacity ceiling even further, and delays the turnover to newer, lower-emission vehicles that EU climate targets require.

Can This Problem Actually Be Fixed?

The honest answer is: not quickly. But there are genuine efforts underway across three fronts.

Making the job better for the people already doing it

Retention is as important as recruitment. An experienced driver who stays five extra years is worth more to the market than ten new recruits who leave after eighteen months. What drivers are asking for is not complicated: adequate rest facilities, secure parking, better treatment at loading sites. 90% of current drivers point at exactly these priorities. The information is there. The action has been slower.

“It is also worth noting that how carriers are paid affects whether they stay in the profession — a driver working through a broker who takes 15–25% of every load earns less than one transacting directly. For more on how that margin affects carrier economics, our breakdown of the commission free freight model is worth reading.”

Bringing in drivers from outside the EU

The IRU’s SDM4EU initiative connects countries with surplus qualified drivers to EU member states facing shortages — Phase 2 launched in 2026. A parallel EU programme, STEER2EU, examined qualification recognition, visa frameworks, and employment standards. Genuine potential, but political appetite for third-country integration varies significantly across member states. A meaningful piece of the solution — not the whole solution.

Technology: helping drivers work smarter, not replacing them

Autonomous trucks are frequently cited as the answer. The reality: current vehicles on European roads require a qualified driver present at all times. Fully driverless Level 4 operations remain in regulatory approval phases across member states. What is already deployed and helping: driver-assistance systems — fatigue detection, lane-keeping, adaptive cruise — and truck platooning delivering up to 10% fuel savings on compatible routes.

What automation actually means through 2030

Technology extends the capacity of the workforce you have. It does not replace the need for one.

FAQ: Europe's Truck Driver Shortage

How many truck driver positions are unfilled in Europe?

According to the IRU’s 2025 driver shortage survey, approximately 502,000 truck driver positions are currently unfilled across Europe — a 13% shortage rate. This has more than doubled in two years, up from 233,000 in 2023 and 426,000 in 2024.

Why is the truck driver shortage in Europe so severe?

The shortage reflects several structural factors acting simultaneously: an ageing workforce retiring faster than young drivers enter the profession; high upfront licence costs (€4,000–€7,000); working conditions that make the role increasingly unattractive compared to other logistics jobs; a poor public image in educational systems; and critically low female participation rates. None of these factors is easily reversed on a short timeline.

Which European countries are worst affected?

Italy and Germany face the most critical demographic gaps — youth representation in their driver workforces stands at just 2.2% and 2.6% respectively, according to the IRU’s 2024 Global Truck Driver Shortage Report. Spain has the highest share of older drivers in Europe at 50% over 55. Poland and France are also significantly affected.

How many European truck drivers will retire by 2030?

The IRU projects that approximately 660,500 European truck drivers will retire by 2030. With the under-25 driver share at just 6.5% and falling year-on-year, the pipeline of replacements is structurally insufficient to absorb this retirement wave without significant intervention.

How does the driver shortage affect freight rates?

Through two channels. First, wage inflation: competition for experienced drivers has pushed salaries up across Europe — Spanish international drivers saw 5.1% wage growth in 2025, and Italian operators agreed increases of over €500 per month. Second, constrained capacity: approximately two-thirds of European operators have rejected new contracts because they lacked drivers. Both effects flow directly into the freight rates that shippers pay.

Will autonomous trucks solve the driver shortage?

Not in the near term. Current autonomous trucks on European roads require a qualified driver present and ready to take control. Level 4 fully driverless operations remain in pilot and regulatory approval phases. The more realistic scenario through 2030 is driver-assistance technology extending the productivity and safety of existing drivers — not replacing them.