Statistics

 

International Death Rates

 

 

International Road-Crash Fatality Rates

(Deaths Per 100,000 Population  --  a.k.a. the Per Capita Death Rate)

1988-2002

 

All contents copyright ©, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc., 2003 onwards, unless specified otherwise. All rights reserved.

 

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   The  best  and  worst  performances are shown in each column

 

 

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

Change 

Overall, to 2001 1

1992--

2001 7

 

Australia

 

16.7

13.6

12.2

12.26

10.06

10.9

11.2

10.8

  9.5

  9.4

  9.3

  9.5

  9.0

  8.8

-46%

-26%

Australia

Austria

21.3

20.7

20.3

19.9

17.8

16.2

16.7

15.0

12.7

13.7

11.9

13.4

12.0

11.9

11.9

-44%

-33%

Austria

Belgium

19.9

20.1

19.9

18.8

16.7

16.5

16.8

14.3

13.4

13.4

14.7

13.7

14.4

14.5

14.58

-27%

-13%

Belgium

Canada

 

 

 

13.6

12.3

12.5

11.1

11.3

10.3

10.1

  9.7

  9.7

 9.86

  9.56

  9.3

-30%

-23%

Canada

Czech Rep.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15.4

15.2

15.5

13.2

14.1

14.5

13.0

14.0

-16%

 n/a

Czech Rep.

Denmark

13.9

13.1

12.3

11.8

11.2

10.8

10.5

11.2

  9.8

  9.3

  9.4

  9.7

  9.3

  8.1

  8.6

-42%

-28%

Denmark

Finland

 

14.8

13.0

12.6

12.0

  9.6

  9.5

  8.6

  7.9

  8.5

  7.8

  8.4

  7.7

  8.4

  8.0

-43%

-30%

Finland

France

20.6

20.5

19.9

18.5

17.3

16.6

15.6

15.3

14.7

14.4

15.1

14.4

13.6

13.8

12.9

-33%

-20%

France

Germany

13.42

13.02

12.62

11.82

13.23

12.3

12.1

11.6

10.7

10.4

  9.5

  9.5

  9.1

  8.5

  8.3

-37% 3

-36% 3

Germany

Greece

16.76

17.46

19.4

19.46

20.36

20.3

21.1

21.16

22.56

20.9

20.96

20.96

20.16

19.36

19.39

+16%

-  5%

Greece

Hungary

 

 

 

 

 

16.3

15.2

15.6

13.4

13.7

13.5

12.9

12.0

12.2

14.0

-25%

-25%

Hungary

Iceland

 

 

 

10.5

  8.1

  6.4

  6.46

  9.0

  3.7

  5.5

  9.8

  7.5

11.3

  8.4

10.1

(ignored4)

 n/a 4

Iceland

Ireland

13.1

13.1

13.6

12.6

11.7

12.1

11.4

12.1

12.4

12.8

12.4

11.0

11.0

10.7

  9.6

-18%

-  9%

Ireland

Italy

13.1

12.0

12.4

14.0

14.1

12.6

12.4

12.3

12.3

11.7

11.0

11.06

11.06

11.16

11.7

-15%

-21%

Italy

Japan

11.0

11.7

11.8

11.6

12.0

10.6

10.2

10.1

  9.3

  8.9

  8.5

  8.2

  8.2

  7.9

  7.5

-28%

-34%

Japan

Luxembourg

22.6

22.66

18.0

20.8

18.7

19.2

18.5

18.56

16.7

16.76

13.4

13.5

17.5

15.9

14.0

-30%

-15%

Luxembourg

Netherlands

  9.3

  9.8

  9.2

  8.5

  8.5

  8.2

  8.5

  8.6

  7.6

  7.5

  6.8

  6.9

  6.8

  6.2

  6.1

-33%

-27%

Netherlands

New Zealand

 

22.7

21.3

19.0

18.8

17.2

16.5

16.2

14.1

14.4

13.3

13.4

12.1

11.8

10.3

-48%

-37%

New Zealand

Norway

 

 

 

  7.6

  7.6

  7.66

  6.5

  7.0

  5.8

  6.9

  8.0

  6.8

 6.86

  6.1

  6.9

-20%

-20%

Norway

Poland

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

18.3

17.4

16.3

14.3

15.3

(ignored)

 n/a

Poland

Portugal

30.66

33.76

31.56

32.26

34.46

32.96

28.76

28.8

28.9

28.96

25.6

22.46

21.06

21.06

16.110

-31%

-39% 10

Portugal

Rep of Korea

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

32.3

29.3

22.7

23.2

21.8

17.2

14.9

(ignored)

 n/a

Rep of Korea

Slovak Rep.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11.4

11.3

n/a

 n/a

Slovak Rep.

Slovenia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14.0

13.7

n/a

 n/a

Slovenia

Spain

21.2

24.1

23.2

22.6

20.0

16.3

14.4

14.7

14.0

14.3

15.1

14.6

14.6

13.8

13.2

-35%

-31%

Spain

Sweden

  9.7

10.7

  9.1

  8.7

8.8

  7.3

  6.7

  6.5

  6.1

  6.1

  6.0

  6.6

  6.7

  6.2

  6.0

-36%

-30%

Sweden

Switzerland

14.0

13.6

13.9

12.4

12.2

10.5

  9.7

  9.9

  8.7

  8.3

  8.4

  8.2

  8.3

  7.6

  7.1

-46%

-38%

Switzerland

Turkey 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.1

  9.2

  7.6

  5.65

  5.68

(ignored5)

 n/a

Turkey 5

UK

  9.1

  9.7

  9.4

8.2

  7.6

  6.8

  6.5

  6.4

  6.4

  6.3

  6.0

  6.0

  6.0

  6.1

  6.1

-33%

-20%

UK

USA

19.2

18.4

18.46

16.4

15.4

15.6

15.5

15.9

15.8

15.7

15.3

15.3

15.2

14.8

14.9

-23%

-  4%

USA

 

The  best  and  worst  performances are shown in each column

 

See the latest available year's data from IRTAD here

 

See year 2003 data from over 50 countries here

 

 

Notes

  1. Percentage reduction in the rate of deaths for the period 1988-2001, where all data available, otherwise between earliest and latest available years

  2. West Germany

  3. East and West Germany combined, 1992 onwards

  4. Iceland not included because of the haphazard, up and down results

  5. Turkey’s apparent claim to a 45% reduction in fatalities between 1998-2001 has always seemed -- to DSA staff -- far too good to be true, especially given the known driving conditions in that country. Furthermore, in an article -- "1 Soldier Killed, 34 Wounded In Agri Traffic Accident" -- dated 25 June 2004, in the Turkish Press, the annual death toll on Turkish roads is given as "nearly 9,000", but as the country's population is around 68.5 million the true, per capita death rate will be around 13, not the unbelievable 5.6 that is shown in the above table.  Drive and Stay Alive corresponded with BASt and the OECD in June 2004, to express concern about this glaring anomaly, and were assured that the data has been identified as inaccurate and the IRTAD will shortly be amended accordingly. (A footnote was subsequently added on the IRTAD, in July 2004.)

  6. Based on a previous year’s figures; for specific details in relation to the most recent year’s figures only (for only one year is shown at any time) see the International Road Traffic and Accident Database (IRTAD), online

  7. Percentage reduction in the rate of deaths, between the 1992 figures and those for 2001 

  8. 2001 figure (described thus in IRTAD tables)

  9. 2000 figure (described thus in IRTAD tables)

  10. The figures for Portugal were amended by BASt/IRTAD in July 2004. This 2002 figure therefore represents the re-calculated rate for Portugal and figures for the few preceding years should be viewed in light of this. Prior to this amendment, the 2002 figure for Portugal again read 21;

  11. Year 2002 figures for European countries, as published by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) are a little different to those published by IRTAD. View the ESRC figures here.

    a.   1999 figure (described thus in IRTAD tables)

 

This page was last updated on August 3, 2004, in connection with Portugal's revised 2002 death rate and recognition of the inaccurate figure for Turkey. 

The box, below, which refers to Portugal, should now be viewed in the amended context and will be amended when time permits.

 

When road deaths for each individual state in the USA, for the year 2001, are measured on the same per-capita basis as above, 27 of them perform worse than the American national figure, but more alarming is the fact that 11 of those states have a worse death rate than Portugal, the most dangerous of the countries listed on this page.

Click here to view the table of U.S. states