List of countries by traffic-related death rate

Death rates from road traffic accidents by country, per 100,000 inhabitants, world map (WHO 2019).[1][nb 1]
  fewer than 5
  5–10
  10–15
  15–20
  20–25
  25–30
  30–35
  35–40
  more than 40
  Data unavailable

This list of countries by traffic-related death rate shows the annual number of road fatalities per capita per year, per number of motor vehicles, and per vehicle-km in some countries in the year the data was collected.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), road traffic injuries caused an estimated 1.35 million deaths worldwide in 2016.[2] That is, one person is killed every 26 seconds on average.

Only 28 countries, representing 449 million people (seven percent of the world's population), have laws that address the five risk factors of speed, drunk driving, helmets, seat-belts and child restraints.[citation needed] Over a third of road traffic deaths in low- and middle-income countries are among pedestrians and cyclists. However, less than 35 percent of low- and middle-income countries have policies in place to protect these road users.[3] The average rate was 17.4 per 100,000 people. Low-income countries now have the highest annual road traffic fatality rates, at 24.1 per 100,000, while the rate in high-income countries is lowest, at 9.2 per 100,000.[3]

Seventy-four percent of road traffic deaths occur in middle-income countries, which account for only 53 percent of the world's registered vehicles. In low-income countries it is even worse. Only one percent of the world's registered cars produce 16 percent of world's road traffic deaths. This indicates that these countries bear a disproportionately high burden of road traffic deaths relative to their level of motorization.[3]

In the United States, fatal crashes involving cyclists, motorcyclists, and pedestrians are on the rise, offsetting the decrease in fatal crashes involving only passenger cars.[4] As a result, the overall reduction in fatal crashes from 1991 to 2021 is only 21%. In contrast, other developed countries tracked by the International Transport Forum saw a median decrease of 77% in fatal crashes, with Spain experiencing the largest reduction. On a population-adjusted basis, Spain had 86% fewer car crash fatalities in 2021 compared to 1991.[5]

There are large disparities in road traffic death rates between regions. The risk of dying as a result of a road traffic injury is highest in the African Region (26.6 per 100 000 population), and lowest in the European Region (9.3 per 100 000).[3]

Adults aged between 15 and 44 years account for 59 percent of global road traffic deaths. 77 percent of road deaths are males.[6]

The total fatalities figures comes from the WHO report (table A2, column point estimate, pp. 264–271) and are often an adjusted number of road traffic fatalities in order to reflect the different reporting and counting methods among the many countries (e.g., "a death after how many days since accident event is still counted as a road fatality?" (by international standard adjusted to a 30-day period), or "to compensate for under-reporting in some countries".[3][7]: 62–74 

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference WHO 2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ WHO, ed. (18 December 2023). Road Safety Annual Report (PDF) (Official Report). OECD/ITF, Paris. Retrieved 31 July 2024.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  3. ^ a b c d e WHO, ed. (2015). Global Status Report on Road Safety 2015 (official report). Geneva: World Health Organization (WHO). pp. vii, 1–14, 75ff (countries), 264–271 (table A2), 316–332 (table A10). ISBN 978-92-4-156506-6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2016. Tables A2 & A10, data from 2013
  4. ^ Leonhardt, David (11 December 2023). "The Rise in U.S. Traffic Deaths". The New York Times.
  5. ^ "Fatal Car Crash Statistics". www.trialproven.com. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  6. ^ WHO, ed. (2013). Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013: supporting a decade of action (PDF) (official report). Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization (WHO). pp. vii, 1–8, 53ff (countries), 244–251 (table A2), 296–303 (table A10). ISBN 978-92-4-156456-4. Retrieved 30 May 2014. Tables A2 & A10, data from 2010
  7. ^ WHO, ed. (2015). "WHO Report 2015: Data tables" (official report). Geneva: World Health Organization (WHO). Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 November 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2016.


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