ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS

UNECE
2015 Statistics of Road Traffic Accidents in Europe and North America
Road Safety in the ECE Region
Following the adoption of resolution 64/255 by the General Assembly in 2010, the period
2011–2020 was declared as the Decade of Action for Road Safety, with a goal to stabilize and
then reduce the forecast level of road traffic fatalities around the world by increasing activities
conducted at the national, regional and global levels. The data provided for the most recent
decade where road safety data are available (2003–2013) show that in the ECE region progress
has already been made in terms of reducing the number of road accidents with injuries as well
as the number of both fatalities and injuries in those accidents.
Between 2003 and 2013, the total number of fatalities in road traffic accidents decreased by
more than 30 per cent in the ECE region (see Figure 1). The total number of fatalities was
reported as 108,857 in 2013 (156,031 in 2003). 2 This trend was particularly pronounced
between 2007 and 2010 where an average annual decrease of more than 8 per cent was
reported.
Figure 1
Road traffic fatalities by region, 2003–2013
Source: UNECE Transport Database
Note: Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and Turkmenistan are not included due to insufficient data
availability.
Despite this positive trend, data on road traffic fatalities per inhabitant show large disparities
between countries and regions (see Figure 2). In the ECE region, the per capita fatality rate is
inversely correlated with gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and, accordingly, the wide
variation in income level of member States is also evident in fatality rates. In 2013, Sweden, the
United Kingdom and the Netherlands had the lowest number of fatalities per capita with
Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan having the highest rates. Kyrgyzstan's rate
of fatalities per capita was almost eight times that of Sweden. The ECE region as a whole
reported approximately 87 fatalities per one million inhabitants in 2013, with the EU/EFTA
region reporting a ratio more than 40 per cent lower than this average and the Rest of ECE
region reporting a ratio of more than 40 per cent higher.
2 Excluding Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and Turkmenistan where sufficient data were unavailable.
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