More than 1.3 million people died in road-traffic accidents in 2016, an all-time high, according to the World Health Organization. A world with more people and more cars means more death on the world's roads.
Those deaths, though, are not evenly distributed. "Road traffic injuries are now the leading killer of people aged 5-29 years," notes the WHO's new Global Status Report on Road Safety 2018. "The burden is disproportionately borne by pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, in particular those living in developing countries."
There is nuance within those figures. While the total number of such deaths has risen, the death rate per 100,000 people has fallen slightly since 2000.
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