The tally of road crash deaths is heading in the right direction—downwards.
The new 2023 World Health Organization report on road safety shows that, since 2010, road traffic deaths have fallen by 5%—and that would translate into a 16% drop if the rise in global population was accounted for.
108 countries reported a drop in road traffic-related deaths between 2010 and 2021.
Ten countries succeeded in reducing road traffic deaths by over 50%: Belarus, Brunei Darussalam, Denmark, Japan, Lithuania, Norway, Russian Federation, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.
35 more countries made notable progress, reducing deaths by 30% to 50%.
Low income countries are at much higher risk: Asia and Africa reported the bulk of the deaths, followed by 12% in the Americas, 11% in the Eastern Mediterranean, and 5% in the Europe.
Over half of all road traffic fatalities include pedestrians (23%), motorcycles (21%); cyclists (6%); and scooters (3%).
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The report covering a decade of progress was produced with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies which has committed $500 million to support road safety interventions in low- and middle-income countries and cities across the world.
“Our mission at Bloomberg Philanthropies is to save and improve as many lives as possible, and one of the best ways to do that is to make more of the world’s roads safe for all,” said Bloomberg founder Michael Bloomberg, the WHO Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases and Injuries, who also wrote a foreword for the report.
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“For more than a decade now, we’ve made encouraging progress together with the World Health Organization and our partners. Still, as this new report makes clear, road safety demands stronger commitments from governments worldwide—and we’ll continue to urge more leaders to take lifesaving action.”
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