Who dies in road accidents?
In the median of the 36 countries that publish causes of death by age, 0.71% of men and 0.22% of women eventually die in road accidents. It is the most likely cause of death in 45 of their 1,152 country, sex and age groups.
The risk by age
Chance of dying in road accidents within 10 years, and its share of all the risk at that age — the median of 36 countries. Your own country's numbers are one click away on its page.
| Age | men | women |
|---|---|---|
| 15–19 | 0.11% (19% of the risk) | 0.02% (12% of the risk) |
| 20–24 | 0.10% (14% of the risk) | 0.02% (8.2% of the risk) |
| 25–29 | 0.10% (8.9% of the risk) | 0.02% (4.7% of the risk) |
| 30–34 | 0.09% (7.0% of the risk) | 0.02% (3.1% of the risk) |
| 35–39 | 0.09% (4.3% of the risk) | 0.02% (2.1% of the risk) |
| 40–44 | 0.09% (3.0% of the risk) | 0.02% (1.3% of the risk) |
| 45–49 | 0.09% (1.9% of the risk) | 0.02% (0.84% of the risk) |
| 50–54 | 0.09% (1.3% of the risk) | 0.02% (0.60% of the risk) |
| 55–59 | 0.10% (0.90% of the risk) | 0.02% (0.41% of the risk) |
| 60–64 | 0.11% (0.57% of the risk) | 0.03% (0.30% of the risk) |
| 65–69 | 0.10% (0.40% of the risk) | 0.03% (0.22% of the risk) |
| 70–74 | 0.10% (0.29% of the risk) | 0.04% (0.17% of the risk) |
| 75–79 | 0.11% (0.22% of the risk) | 0.05% (0.12% of the risk) |
| 80–84 | 0.12% (0.15% of the risk) | 0.04% (0.07% of the risk) |
| 85–89 | 0.09% (0.10% of the risk) | 0.03% (0.03% of the risk) |
| 90–94 | 0.06% (0.07% of the risk) | 0.02% (0.02% of the risk) |
Where it's the most likely cause of death
- Men 15–19: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Moldova, Portugal and 5 more
- Men 20–24: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Moldova, Portugal and 3 more
- Men 25–29: Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Romania
- Men 30–34: Portugal
- Women 15–19: Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Moldova, Romania and 1 more
- Women 20–24: Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia
Lifetime chance, men: highest and lowest countries
Lifetime chance, women: highest and lowest countries
What changes the odds
What you can do
- Wear a seatbelt in every seat on every trip, and use child seats.
- Keep to speed limits, and never drive after drinking or while using your phone.
- Wear a helmet on bikes and motorbikes, and be visible at night.
What the evidence says
- A seatbelt cuts the risk of death for people in a car by up to 50%. — WHO, 2026
- Child car seats cut deaths among infants by 71%. — WHO, 2026
- A motorcycle helmet worn correctly cuts the risk of brain injury by up to 74%. — WHO, 2026
- In a crash or fall, cyclists wearing a helmet had 69% lower odds of a serious head injury and 65% lower odds of a fatal one. — Olivier & Creighton, International Journal of Epidemiology 2017 (40 studies, 64,000 cyclists)
- Every 1% higher average speed means about 4% more fatal crashes. — WHO, 2026
- Using a phone while driving makes a crash about 4 times as likely. — WHO, 2026
- Crash risk starts rising at low blood alcohol and climbs steeply from 0.4 grams per litre. — WHO, 2026
Sources: WHO: Road traffic injuries (fact sheet, 2026); Olivier J, Creighton P. Int J Epidemiol 2017;46:278–92. General guidance, not medical advice.
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Questions
- At what age is road accidents most likely to be the cause of death?
- For men, road accidents takes its largest share of deaths at 15–19: 19% of the risk of dying in the next 10 years, in the median of the 36 countries that publish causes of death by age.
- Which country has the highest risk of dying in road accidents?
- Of the 36 countries that publish causes of death by age, United States has the highest lifetime chance of dying in road accidents for men (1.6%), and Ireland the lowest (0.27%).
Computed by Odainn from official mortality statistics (Eurostat; ONS, NRS and NISRA; CDC; Statistics Canada) for 36 countries, latest years — how we calculate. Belarus is left out: deaths by cause and age aren't published together there, so the split by cause is our estimate. Population statistics, not a prediction for any individual. Educational, not medical advice.