WHO Global Status Report on Road Safety 2023 – Road fatalities rise in India, despite global drop

Source: The post is based on the article “Global Status Report on Road Safety 2023: Road fatalities rise in India, despite global drop” published in “The Hindu” on 14th December 2023

Why in the News?

Recently, the Global Status Report on Road Safety 2023 has been released.

What is the Global Status Report on Road Safety?

Released by: World Health Organization (WHO) 

Aim: To detail the scale of global road traffic deaths and progress in advancing laws, strategies and policies to reduce them around the world. 

Key Findings of the report:

1) Global Decline in Road Traffic Deaths: Between 2010 and 2021, road traffic deaths worldwide dropped by 5% to 1.19 million annually.

2) Countries making progress: Around 108 UN member countries reported a decrease in road traffic deaths. 10 countries achieved above 50% reduction in deaths. 35 countries reduced fatalities by 30-50%.

3) India: India, on the other hand, saw a 15% increase in road traffic fatalities rising from 1.34 lakh in 2010 to 1.54 lakh in 2021.

3) Impact on age groups: Road crashes remain a major cause of death among youth (5-29 years) and the 12th leading cause of deaths among all age groups.

4) Population Growth vs Road Fatalities: In the last decade, the global population increased by about 14 billion or 13% but road traffic deaths decreased by 5%. Therefore, the road fatality rate per 100,000 people has seen a reduction.

5) Vehicle Growth Impact: The global motor vehicle fleet increased by 160%. Therefore, the annual fatality rates per 1 lakh vehicles dropped from 79 deaths to 47 deaths marking a 41% reduction.

6) Higher road deaths in Low and Middle Income Countries: Nine in 10 deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries which is disproportionately higher when set against the number of vehicles and roads they have.

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