Impacts of Road Accidents in Asia and the Pacific by the Numbers

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.