The shocking death toll of cars in poor countries
The article discusses the alarming death toll caused by car accidents in low- and middle-income countries, where the majority of road fatalities occur. Despite global health advancements, the number of deaths from car crashes has remained stagnant over the past two decades. This issue is often overlooked, as cars are seen as valuable to society, leading to a lack of serious attention from policymakers.
- ▪Approximately 1.19 million people die from road crashes globally each year, with many more injured.
- ▪Over 90 percent of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income nations, which have only about 60 percent of the world's cars.
- ▪The number of fatalities from car accidents has not significantly decreased in the last 20 years, despite improvements in other areas of global health.
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Future PerfectThe shocking death toll of cars in poor countriesWe’ve made little progress against one of the world’s greatest killers.by Marina BolotnikovaMay 26, 2026, 11:00 AM UTCShareGiftA road in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. | Godong/Universal Images Group via Getty ImagesMarina Bolotnikova is a senior reporter for Vox’s Future Perfect section. She covers housing, transportation, and cities, factory farming and animal rights, meta-science, the future of food and agriculture, and more.The story of global health over the last few centuries has generally been one of great progress — vastly longer lifespans, far fewer women dying in childbirth, many fewer children dying from miserable diseases like measles and smallpox.
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