Road deaths currently claim more lives than malaria and are expected by 2030 to be twice as many as those due to HIV/AIDS and four times those due to tuberculosis. A leading health problem facing humanity, road safety has serious economic implications too. Here’s a by the numbers look at how road accidents impact developing Asia.

Human impacts

645,000: number of road accident fatalities in Asia and the Pacific every year.
Source: Regional Report on Status of Road Safety: the South-East Asia Region. India. WHO. 2009

Nearly 3.5 million: number of deaths caused by accidents in the last 5 years.
Source: ADB Transport

18 million: number of individuals permanently disabled due to road accidents in the last 5 years.
Source: ADB Transport

60%: the percentage of deaths and injuries that occur in Asia each year out of an estimated 1.18 million deaths and injuries globally.
Source: ADB Road Safety and Social Sustainability

Poverty impacts

22 million: number of families that have experienced a family member being killed or permanently disabled by road accidents in the last 5 years.
Source: R. Silcock. 2003. Guidelines for Estimating the Cost of Road Crashes in Developing Countries. London: Department for International Development; WHO. 2009.

7 out of 10: number of victims' families that suffer decreased income due to road accidents.
Source: R. Silcock. 2003. Guidelines for Estimating the Cost of Road Crashes in Developing Countries. London: Department for International Development; WHO. 2009.

Two-thirds: proportion of victims' families who end up taking loans to cover income loss.
Source: Road Safety in the Western Pacific Region: Call for Action. Geneva. WHO.

Economic impacts

$15 billion: estimated cost of road accidents in ASEAN countries
Source: ADB Transport

$96 billion: amount lost annually to road accidents in ADB member countries.
Source: Road Safety in the Western Pacific Region: Call for Action. Geneva. WHO.