Delivering road safety in Bangladesh: Leadership priorities and initiatives to 2030
High fatality and injury rates on Bangladesh’s roads are undermining the remarkable progress that this South Asian nation has made on boosting economic growth and reducing poverty. Estimates of annual deaths in road accidents range from 2,538 to nearly 10 times that—between 20,736 and 21,316, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO data also reveal annual road crash deaths per capita in Bangladesh are twice the average rate for high-income countries and five times that of the best performing countries in the world. Between 1990 and 2017, the increase in the road crash fatality rate per capita was three times higher in Bangladesh than that across the South Asia region. For the highest-risk group—males between the ages of 15 and 49—the rate of increase in Bangladesh was 15 times higher than that across the South Asia region. Given the rapid growth in vehicle ownership, this trend can be expected to continue unless scaled-up and well-targeted actions are taken.
