Road injuries remain one of the leading, and most preventable, causes of death among young people worldwide, according to a new analysis from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation based on the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2023 study.

The analysis, covering 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2023, found that roughly 51 million people were injured and 1.34 million died from road injuries in 2023 alone, making road injuries the 11th-leading cause of death globally and responsible for 75.3 million years of healthy life lost to disability (DALYs).

Globally, age-standardized rates of road-injury mortality and incidence fell 38.3% and 32.3%, respectively, between 1990 and 2023. But that progress has been deeply uneven: low-income countries saw little improvement and now carry the highest mortality rate, at 43.8 deaths per 100,000 people, while high-income countries report far more injuries overall (858.1 cases per 100,000) but a much lower death rate (7.5 per 100,000).

Several countries — including the United States, Ghana, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Armenia, and Costa Rica — saw road-injury mortality actually increase between 2010 and 2023, with rises ranging from 13.2% in the U.S. to 48.5% in Ghana.

Road injuries are the leading cause of death globally among people ages 10 to 39, and the second-leading cause among children ages 5 to 9. Males ages 20 to 24 alone account for more than one in five road-injury deaths worldwide.

Motor vehicle crashes account for the largest share of the burden, with 19.8 million injuries and 518,000 deaths. Pedestrians make up roughly a third of all deaths, while motorcyclists — who account for just 13% of injury cases — represent about 24% of deaths, most involving head trauma. Fractures are the most common non-fatal injury, affecting more than 38% of cases, while head injuries, concentrated in low- and middle-income countries, account for roughly one in ten cases.

The global economic toll of road injuries is projected to reach US$1.8 trillion between 2015 and 2030. Researchers estimate that more than 200,000 lives could be saved each year through enhanced trauma care coverage in low- and middle-income countries.

“The data make clear that road injuries are not an inevitable cost of mobility — they are largely preventable,” said Dr. Liane Ong, IHME senior research scientist and the study’s senior author.

“Closing the gap between high- and low-income countries will require sustained investment in both prevention and trauma care,” said Dr. Marie Ng, IHME affiliate associate professor and associate professor at the National University of Singapore.

Journal: The Lancet Public Health
DOI: 10.1016/S2468-2667(26)00141-6
Article Title: Global, regional, and national burden of road injuries 1990–2023: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023
Publication Date: July 20, 2026

Source: EurekAlert