September 21, 2018
Iran has the seventh highest traffic death rate in the world according to a UN tabulation released recently.
Iran is tied with Rwanda in Africa with a rate of 32.1 traffic deaths per 100,000 population. The data are for 2013, the most recent year for which the UN World Health Organization has data for 190 countries.
The death tolls range from a low of 1.9 in Micronesia to a high of 45.1 in Venezuela, where the death toll far exceeds any other country. The second worst tally is for Thailand with 36.2 deaths per 100,000 population.
The global average is 17.4. Thus Iran’s traffic death rate is almost double the world average.
The United States is quite high for a Western country with a rate of 10.6. Most European countries are in single digits. Canada is 6.0.
Here are the dozen countries with rates above 30 per 100,000 population.
190 Venezuela 45.1
189 Thailand 36.2
187 Liberia 33.7
186 Congo Dem. Rep. 33.2
185 Tanzania 32.9
184 Cent. Afr. Rep. 32.4
183 Iran 32.1
182 Rwanda 32.1
181 Mozambique 31.6
180 Burundi 31.2
179 Sao Tome 31.1
178 Togo 31.1
Of the dozen deadliest, three-fourths are in Africa, one in Latin America, one in the Far East and one, Iran, in the Middle East.