Surely coming as little surprise to anyone well acquainted with Thailand’s roads, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has found that the Kingdom has the second highest road deaths per capita than anywhere in the world.
36.2 people per 100,000 die on Thailand’s roads every year – alarmingly more than the 2.9 rate in the UK or 4.3 in Germany, although much lower than Libya, which boasts the dubious title of the worst country for road traffic fatalities, with 73.4 road deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.
India has the total most road fatalities.
Looking at Thailand in particular, it looks as though 2- or 3-wheeled motors – motorbikes and tuk tuks – far outweigh any other road user category for death rate:
With 1.3 million road deaths annually across the world, the global death toll is higher than that of malaria and costs the global economy up to US$500 billion every year.
It’s clear from the WHO’s statistics that developing nations generally tend towards a higher death rate than in developed nations, and although they have only half of the world’s vehicles, they have 90 percent of the world’s road deaths.
Globally, road fatalities are the number one cause of death among 15 to 29-year olds while 75 percent of road deaths are among men. Pedestrians, cyclists and motorcycles account for 49 percent of all road traffic deaths.
Infographic by Forbes and Statista
Featured image is by Captain Kimo and used under a Creative Commons licence
