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

  • UK’s construction machinery market proves bullish
    March 8, 2022
    The UK’s construction machinery market is bullish with strong sales.
  • Latin America invests in infrastructure growth
    February 15, 2012
    Travelling in one of the world's most diverse regions is not always easy, but spectacular engineering feats will make life easier as Patrick Smith reports. Five years ago a report from the World Bank noted that infrastructure in most of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) had improved over the previous ten years.
  • Safety gains on Europe’s roads with lower KSI rates
    February 19, 2014
    Better road safety is helping to cut KSI rates right across the EC - Mike Woof writes Road safety continues to improve in Europe, with official statistics for 2012 showing a drop in fatalities of 2,661 compared with the figures for 2011. The latest data from Pan-European police body TISPOL shows an encouraging trend towards better road safety. This highlights safety improvements right across the EU. In 2012, a total of 27,700 people were killed in road crashes in the European Union’s 27 member states, eq
  • Italy's improving road safety
    April 30, 2012
    The latest official statistics from the Italian authorities show an improving road safety situation. Italy's statistics institute Istat has data showing that road accidents decreased by 1.9% to 211,404 in 2010. Meanwhile the number of people injured dropped by 1.5% to 302,735, and fatalities were down 3.5% to 4,090. Despite having failed to achieve the 50% fatalities reduction target set in 2001, the country saved €25 billion in social costs. Accidents decreased by 1% on highways, although fatalities rose b