Skip to main content

The world’s most dangerous roads: WHO report

A new report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) identifies the most dangerous countries in the world to travel by road. According to the report, Venezuela now has the highest level of road fatalities, with 45.1 deaths/million of population. Libya previously held the top slot for the world’s most dangerous roads, but has seen major improvements in road safety now moving it down in terms of risk to 49th place.
August 8, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
A new report from the 3263 World Health Organisation (WHO) identifies the most dangerous countries in the world to travel by road. According to the report, Venezuela now has the highest level of road fatalities, with 45.1 deaths/million of population. Libya previously held the top slot for the world’s most dangerous roads, but has seen major improvements in road safety now moving it down in terms of risk to 49th place. Thailand however has seen no such improvement and retains its slot as the country with the second highest level of road fatalities in the world at 35 deaths/million of population. Malawi is in third place and has 33.7 road deaths/million of population while Liberia is in fourth place and has 33.2 road deaths/million of population. Of note is that of the 20 countries in the world with the most dangerous roads, 16 are in Africa (this includes Madagascar in 18th place).


Meanwhile Monaco has the lowest rate of road fatalities, with no deaths at all recorded in the WHO survey, followed by Micronesia in second place, with just 1.9 road deaths/million of population. Sweden is in third place and has just 2.8 road deaths/million of population, followed by Kiribati and the UK, in equal fourth place and each with 2.9 road deaths/million of population. Of the 20 countries in the world with the safest roads, 16 are in Europe.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • GRAA winner profile: Thailand adopts integrated road safety management to cut casualties
    June 11, 2021
    IRF recognises value of national road injury risk diagnosis programme
  • Road traffic safety a concern for the Netherlands
    December 13, 2023
    Road traffic safety is a growing concern for the Netherlands.
  • India tops road fatality figures
    September 16, 2013
    A new report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) places India as having the highest annual road fatalities of any country in the world. The study is based on data collected from 11 May-13 December 2011, with 130,037 having been killed on India’s roads during this period. China had the next highest number of road deaths at 70,134, followed by Brazil at 36,499, the US with 32,885 and Russia with 26,567. Next in the list were were Iran, Mexico, South Africa, and Thailand, with 23,249, 17,301, 14,804, and 13
  • The global road safety crisis needs to be addressed
    October 12, 2017
    The global road casualty rate continues to climb as motorisation levels grow and is particularly acute in the developing world. Developing countries suffer from a particularly high rate of crashes and around 90% of road fatalities. The impact, both in economic and human terms, is unsustainable. These countries cannot afford the loss to their economies of the young and economically active.