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. 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, fewer than 35 percent of low- and middle-income countries have policies in place to protect these road users. 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.

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.

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. 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.

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).

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

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".

List

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 Per100,000inhabitants Per1 billionvehicle-km Total Year Global 15.0 1,282,150 2021 Africa 19.4 297,087 2021 Eastern Mediterranean 16.4 126,958 2021 Western Pacific 15.2 317,393 2021 Southeast Asia 16.1 317,069 2021 Americas 14.1 154,780 2021 Europe 6.7 68,863 2021 24.1 9,684 2021 10.8 309 2021 18.3 8,106 2021 2.5 2 2021 15.0 5,188 2021 7.5 7 2021 8.8 3,983 2021 Asia 13.6 379 2021 4.5 4.9 1,180 2022 4.1 5.1 379 2022 Asia 17.2 1,769 2021 16.2 66 2021 8.1 118 2021 18.6 31,578 2021 10.0 28 2021 7.4 706 2021 4.6 7.3 540 2022 17.5 70 2021 24.8 3,225 2021 12.2 95 2021 17.6 2,127 2021 13.7 447 2021 16.5 426 2021 15.7 33,586 2021 3.6 16 2021 8.4 578 2021 27.8 6,137 2021 12.3 1,546 2021 18.8 3,113 2021 10.6 2,870 2021 4.7 4.3 1,805 2021 16.5 97 2021 25.9 1,412 2021 26.4 4,533 2021 7.7 1,439 2024 17.4 248,099 2021 15.5 8,030 2022 26.6 226 2019 29.7 1,598 2019 17.6 3 2021 15.5 798 2021 8.1 328 2021 5.4 613 2021 Europe 3.9 49 2021 4.1 438 2024 34.9 30,256 2019 2.6 3.9 154 2022 13.5 229 2019 11.0 8 2021 27.5 2,921 2022 23.4 4,173 2021 10.1 10,141 2019 21.5 1,358 2021 11.7 192 2021 37.9 1,326 2019 3.1 43 2025 24.7 295 2021 28.2 31,564 2019 13.5 120 2019 3.4 5.1 189 2022 4.9 5.8 3,267 2022 12.5 293 2021 29.6 695 2019 12.4 496 2019 3.3 4.2 2,788 2022 25.7 7,808 2019 6.1 641 2022 6.4 8 2021 12.6 2,221 2021 29.7 3,788 2019 32.2 619 2019 15.2 122 2021 18.5 1,904 2021 5.5 536 2022 2.3 4.9 9 2022 12.6 172,000 2023 11.3 30,668 2019 21.5 17,803 2019 27.3 10,726 2019 3.0 3.8 155 2022 3.6 5.9 351 2022 5.3 3,159 2022 24.1 6,202 2019 17.8 502 2021 2.1 2,678 2023 13.6 1,514 2021 Asia 12.7 2,352 2019 8.2 4,386 2023 6.2 8 2021 15.4 649 2019 12.7 812 2019 17.9 1,281 2019 9.8 183 2021 16.4 1,127 2019 31.9 678 2019 38.9 1920 2019 21.3 1,444 2019 4.2 120 2022 5.5 36 2022 29.2 7,880 2019 33.4 6,221 2019 13.9 16.2 4,680 2021 1.6 9 2019 22.7 4,465 2019 4.1 18 2019 11.9 5 2021 25.6 1,158 2019 12.2 155 2019 12.0 27.5 15,267 2021 14.1 16 2021 Europe 7.9 189 2025 0.0 0 2021 21.0 679 2019 9.1 57 2021 17.0 6,185 2019 30.0 9,117 2019 20.4 11,004 2019 34.8 868 2019 16.3 4,654 2019 4.1 4.7 737 2022 7.3 7.2 375 2022 13.6 932 2021 25.5 5,946 2019 20.7 41,693 2019 Asia 24.2 6,210 2019 5.1 107 2019 2.1 3.0 116 2022 11.0 497 2021 13.0 28,170 2019 22.2 4 2021 7.3 316 2021 12.6 1,105 2019 21.0 1,405 2021 12.7 4,284 2021 12.0 13,017 2019 5.0 1,896 2022 4.4 462 2022 7.3 206 2019 9.6 1,856 2021 10.6 15,335 2021 11.6 1,563 2021 8.9 16 2021 4.8 5 2021 13.0 26 2019 5.9 2 2021 11.7 26 2021 18.5 6,651 2021 23.4 3,832 2019 7.4 537 2021 11.3 11 2019 13.8 1,165 2021 2.1 121 2019 6.4 346 2021 4.0 7.0 85 2022 11.2 79 2021 20.2 3,440 2021 22.2 13,014 2019 4.9 8.2 2,551 2023 36.7 4,063 2019 3.7 1,759 2022 11.5 2,513 2021 26.8 11,459 2019 16.2 99 2021 2.1 3.3 227 2022 2.7 3.2 241 2022 14.9 2,550 2019 12.1 2,865 2019 15.7 1,461 2019 15.8 10,052 2021 25.4 18,218 2021 11.9 154 2019 28.7 2,316 2019 33.0 34 2019 5.0 77 2021 16.5 1,928 2019 Asia 6.7 5,573 2019 13.5 800 2019 16.0 7,315 2021 10.5 4,558 2021 8.9 870 2019 2.6 3.8Figure from 2010. 1,749 2022 14.2 6.9 47,750 2021 13.0 447 2021 11.7 3,853 2019 12.5 40 2021 13.2 3,718 2021 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 and territories by motor 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 road traffic accidents deaths in the Republic of Ireland by year List of motor vehicle deaths in Japan by year List of motor vehicle deaths in Thailand by year Motor vehicle fatality rate in U.S. by year Road safety in Europe

General: List of causes of death by rate

Notes

References

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