International Death Rates

International Road-Crash Fatality Rates
(Deaths Per 100,000 Population — a.k.a. the Per Capita Death Rate)
1988-2002

The  best  and  worst  performances are shown in each column

The best and worst performances are shown in each column.

See the latest available year’s data from IRTAD here.

See the 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 was 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 general driving conditions in that country. Furthermore, in the article — “1 Soldier Killed, 34 Wounded In Agri Traffic Accident,” — dated June 25, 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 about 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 had been identified as inaccurate. The IRTAD will shortly be amended accordingly. (A footnote was added to the IRTAD in July 2004.)
6. Based on a previous year’s figures; for specific details about 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. BASt/IRTAD amended the figures for Portugal 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. Before this amendment, the 2002 figure for Portugal again read 21;
11. The 2002 figures for European countries, as published by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), are slightly different from those posted 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.