List of countries by traffic-related death rate explained

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.^[1] 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. 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.^[2] 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.^[2]

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.^[2]

In the United States, fatal crashes involving cyclists, motorcyclists, and pedestrians are on the rise, offsetting the decrease in fatal crashes involving passenger cars. 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.^[3]

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).^[2]

Adults aged between 15 and 44 years account for 59 percent of global road traffic deaths. 77 percent of road deaths are males.^[4]

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".^{[2] [5]}

List

See also: List of countries and territories by motor vehicles per capita. The table shows that the highest death tolls tend to be in African countries, and the lowest in European countries. The table first lists WHO geographic regions before alphabetically sorted countries.

(For context, this list shall be cross-referenced with lists of motor vehicles or motorcycles per capita, as numerous countries have low per capita vehicle ownership; being either heavily reliant on motorcycles or public transportation.)

Country/region	Continent	per 100,000 inhabitants^[6] ^[7]	per 1 billion vehicle-km	-->^[8]	Total	Date
Global		16.7		1,282,150	2019
Africa		27.2		297,087	2019
Eastern Mediterranean		17.8		126,958	2019
Western Pacific		16.4		317,393	2019
Southeast Asia		15.8		317,069	2019
Americas		15.3		154,780	2019
Europe		7.4		68,863	2019
		15.9		6,033	2019
		11.7		337	2019
		20.9		8,996	2019
		7.6		6	2019
		26.1		8,317	2019
		6.7		6	2013
		8.2		3,828	2022
	Asia	20.0		590	2016
		4.5	4.9	1,180	2022^[9]
		4.9	5.1	436	2019
	Asia	6.7		676	2019
		7.7		30	2019
				85	2019
		15.3		25,023	2019
		8.2		23	2019
		7.6		722	2019
		5.4	7.3	657	2019^[10]
		22.6		88	2019
		26.8		3,162	2019
		16.2		123	2019
		21.1		2,430	2019
		13.5		446	2019
		26.4		608	2019
		16.0		33,871	2019
		7.5		32	2019
		9.0		601	2019
		31.0		6,303	2019
		35.5		4,089	2019
		16.9		3,223	2019
		30.2		7,810	2019
		5.3	4.3	1,998	2019
		26.8		147	2019
		37.7		1,790	2019
		32.4		5,171	2019
		14.9		2,826	2019
		17.4		250,272	2019
		15.4		7,765	2019
		26.6		226	2019
		29.7		1,598	2019
		24.2		5	2013
		14.9		746	2019
		7.3		340	2019
		8.9		1,007	2019
	Europe	5.9		60	2019
		5.0	9.9	527	2022^[11]
		34.9		30,256	2019
		3.4	3.9	227	2019
		13.5		229	2019
		15.3		11	2013
		27.5		2,921	2022^[12]
		20.1		3,490	2019
		10.1		10,141	2019
		20.9		1,347	2019
		27.2		368	2019
		37.9		1,326	2019
		4.5		59	2019
		28.2		31,564	2019
		13.5		120	2019
		3.8	5.1	260	2019
		5.0	5.8	3,585	2019
		23.9		518	2019
		29.6		695	2019
	Europe	11.5		430	2022
		3.7	4.2	3,327	2019
		25.7		7,808	2019
		6.5		699	2019
		8.0		9	2019
		22.9		4,026	2019
		29.7		3,788	2019
		32.2		619	2019
		22.3		175	2019
		16.1		1,572	2019
		1.3	7.3	97	2020^[13]
		6.2		756	2019
		3.8	4.9	8^[14]	2016– 2021 ^[15]
		15.6		212,596	2019
		11.3		30,668	2019
		21.5		17,803	2019
		27.3		10,726	2019
		2.9	3.8	194	2019
		3.9	5.9	333	2019
		5.2		3,333	2019
		24.1		6,202	2019
		15.1		444	2019
		2.1		2,678	2023^[16]
		17.1		1,717	2019
	Asia	12.7		2,352	2019
		28.3		14,883	2019
		1.9		2	2019
		15.4		649	2019
		12.7		812	2019
		17.9		1,281	2019
		6.9		205	2019
		16.4		1,127	2019
		31.9		678	2019
		38.9		1920	2019
		21.3		1,444	2019
		6.6		234	2019
		4.1		25	2019
		29.2		7,880	2019
		33.4		6,221	2019
		22.5	16.2	7,181	2019
		1.6		9	2019
		22.7		4,465	2019
		4.1		18	2019
		5.7		3	2013
		25.6		1,158	2019
		12.2		155	2019
		12.8	27.5	16,303	2019
		0.2		0	2019
	Europe	8.1		197	2023^[17]
		0		0	2013
		21.0		679	2019
		7.6		48	2019
		17.0		6,185	2019
		30.0		9,117	2019
		20.4		11,004	2019
		34.8		868	2019
		16.3		4,654	2019
		3.8	4.7	648	2019
		7.8	7.2	364	2016
		16.9		1,109	2019
		25.5		5,946	2019
		20.7		41,693	2019
	Asia	24.2		6,210	2019
		5.1		107	2019
		2	3.0	110	2019
		10.6		527	2019
		13.0		28,170	2019
		4.8		1	2013
		13.9		591	2019
		12.6		1,105	2019
		22.0		1,552	2019
		13.6		4,414	2019
		12.0		13,017	2019
		5.0		1,896	2022
		6.3		768	2019
		7.3		206	2021
		10		1,881	2019
		12.0		17,507	2019
		29.4		3,718	2019
		29.8		55	2019
		7.4		8	2019
		13.0		26	2019
		3.2		1	2013
		27.9		60	2019
		35.9		12,317	2019
		23.4		3,832	2019
		7.6		649	2019
		11.3		11	2019
		33.0		2,581	2019
		2.1		121	2019
		4.5		330	2019
		4.9	7.0	134	2019
		16.5		111	2019
		27.4		4,231	2019
		22.2		13,014	2019
		4.9	8.2	2,551	2023^[18]
		36.7		4,063	2019
		3.7		1,922	2019
		19.7		4,200	2019
		26.8		11,459	2019
		15.3		89	2013
		24.2		303	2013
		2.2	3.3	223	2019
		2.2	3.2	223	2019
		14.9		2,550	2019
		12.1		2,865	2019
		15.7		1,461	2019
		31.1		18,054	2019
		32.2		22,428	2019
		11.9		154	2019
		28.7		2,316	2019
		33.0		34	2019
		9.3		130	2019
		16.5		1,928	2019
	Asia	6.7		5,573	2019
		13.5		800	2019
		29.4		13,012	2019
		10.2		4,487	2019
		8.9		870	2019
		2.9	3.8^[19]	2,026	2019
		12.9	6.9	45,404	2021
		11.5		394	2022
		11.7		3,853	2019
		14.9		45	2019
		39.0		11,127	2019
		30.6		29,475	2019
		29.4		8,561	2019
		20.5		3,654	2019
		41.2		6,037	2019

See also

• Epidemiology of motor vehicle collisions
• Traffic collision
• Road traffic safety
• Smeed's law
• List of countries by vehicles per capita

Nations:

• List of motor vehicle deaths in Australia by year
• Road toll (Australia and New Zealand)
• List of motor vehicle deaths in Iceland by year
• List of motor vehicle deaths in Japan by year
• List of motor vehicle deaths in Thailand by year
• List of road traffic accidents deaths in Republic of Ireland by year
• Motor vehicle fatality rate in U.S. by year
• Road safety in Europe

General:

• List of causes of death by rate

External links

• Annual Accident Report 2018 (including deaths for all EU countries 2007–2016), European Road Safety Observatory.

Notes and References

1. Book: Road Safety Annual Report . 18 December 2023 . OECD/ITF, Paris . 2023 . WHO . 18 December 2023 . Official Report . PDF . 31 July 2024.
2. Book: Global Status Report on Road Safety 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151020144338/http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/road_safety_status/2015/en/ . dead . 20 October 2015 . World Health Organization (WHO) . WHO . vii, 1–14, 75ff (countries), 264–271 (table A2), 316–332 (table A10) . PDF . official report . Geneva. 2015 . Tables A2 & A10, data from 2013 . 978-92-4-156506-6 . 27 January 2016.
3. Web site: Fatal Car Crash Statistics . 2024-07-22 . www.trialproven.com.
4. Book: Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013: supporting a decade of action. World Health Organization (WHO). 2013. 978-92-4-156456-4. WHO. Geneva, Switzerland. vii, 1–8, 53ff (countries), 244–251 (table A2), 296–303 (table A10). official report. Tables A2 & A10, data from 2010. 30 May 2014.
5. Web site: WHO Report 2015: Data tables . https://web.archive.org/web/20151130025846/http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/road_safety_status/2015/GSRRS2015_data/en/ . dead . 30 November 2015 . World Health Organization (WHO) . WHO . PDF . official report. Geneva. 2015 . 26 January 2016.
6. Web site: 2021-02-09 . Road traffic deaths Data by WHO region . 2024-03-02 . World Health Organization.
7. Web site: 2021-02-09 . Road traffic deaths Data by country . 2024-03-02 . World Health Organization . "WHO 2019".
8. Book: Road Safety Annual Report 2018 . 18 May 2018 . International Transport Forum (itf) . OECD/ITF . Paris . 21 . official report . data from 2016 . 18 December 2018.
9. Web site: Annual International road safety comparisons 2022 . Australian Government Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics . 13 June 2024.
10. Web site: Road deaths in the European Union – latest data ETSC. 2020-06-21. etsc.eu.
11. Web site: Road Safety Country Profile Czechia 2023 . ITF OECD . 13 June 2024.
12. Web site: Intrant indica informe sobre siniestralidad refleja bajas en muertes por accidentes de tránsito . INTRANT.GOB.DO. 21 July 2024.
13. Web site: Transport Department. 2021-10-21. Summary of Key Statistics(English). dead. 2022-01-07. 6 January 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220106211506/https://data.gov.hk/en-data/dataset/hk-td-wcms_14-road-traffic-accident-stat-2020/resource/4f0b8a8f-a85c-4cb3-b22f-b69c7fedfbd3.
14. Web site: Slysatölur ("Accident Statistics") – latest data Icelandic Transport Authority. 2021-11-08.
15. Web site: Average population by sex and age 1841-2021 .
16. Web site: Road Safety: Japan Sees Rise in Annual Traffic Accidents and Fatalities. nippon.com.
17. https://statistica.gov.md/files/files/publicatii_electronice/Moldova_in_cifre/2024/Moldova_cifre_2024.pdf The statistical summary "Moldova in figures", 2024 edition
18. Web site: 도로교통사고사망률.
19. Figure from 2010.