(Ecofin Agency) - Every year, 1.35 million citizens are killed on roads in the world, the World Health Organisation (WHO) indicated in a report published last week. Paradoxically, while it has the least developed road network in the world, Africa has the highest number of yearly road deaths.

According to the WHO, the average death by road accident is 27.5 deaths for 100,000 residents, far ahead of America and Europe whose rate averages 9 deaths for 100,000 residents. These figures are odd enough because Africa has a marginal share of the global car parc.

According to the report, this high rate of road deaths is mainly due to the bad state of road infrastructures and the lack of emergency services in African countries. Affecting mainly pedestrians and cyclists (44% of the people killed during these accidents), road accidents are the cause of deaths of the youths aged between 15 and 29 and children between 5 and 14.

To improve this situation, the WHO recommends an encouragement of states’ political will and strengthening the responsibility of each actor. Finally, the experts recommend an increase in efforts aimed at applying the different road security laws.

Let’s note that according to the report, most of the countries in the world lose about 3% of their GDP to road accidents.

Moutiou Adjibi Nourou