This page presents road deaths and road death rates for OECD countries and Australian states and territories. Rates of road deaths allow comparison between Australia’s road safety performance and that of other OECD countries by accounting for the differing levels of population, motorisation and distances travelled.
The 3 rates presented — population, vehicles-registered and Vehicle Kilometres Travelled (VKT) — are affected by population demographics and motorisation levels within each country. They are however still highly correlated.
Fatality rate per 100,000 population
Australia’s rate of 4.7 deaths per 100,000 population was ranked 20th out of the 34 countries. The countries with the 3 lowest rates were Norway (2.0), Iceland (2.1) and Sweden (2.2).
34 OECD countries, 2023
34 OECD countries, 2023
| OECD member countries | Fatality rate per 100,000 population |
|---|---|
| Costa Rica | 17.0 |
| Colombia | 15.8 |
| United States | 12.2 |
| Chile | 10.0 |
| New Zealand | 6.5 |
| Portugal | 6.1 |
| Greece | 6.1 |
| Lithuania | 5.6 |
| Italy | 5.2 |
| Poland | 5.2 |
| Hungary | 4.9 |
| Korea | 4.9 |
| Canada | 4.8 |
| France | 4.8 |
| Australia | 4.7 |
| Czech Republic | 4.6 |
| Austria | 4.4 |
| Belgium | 4.3 |
| Luxembourg | 3.9 |
| Slovenia | 3.9 |
| Spain | 3.8 |
| Israel | 3.6 |
| Ireland | 3.5 |
| Netherlands | 3.4 |
| Germany | 3.4 |
| Finland | 3.1 |
| Denmark | 2.7 |
| Switzerland | 2.7 |
| Japan | 2.6 |
| United Kingdom | 2.5 |
| Sweden | 2.2 |
| Iceland | 2.1 |
| Norway | 2.0 |
Between 2014 and 2023 Australia’s road death fatality rate declined by 3.6%. Over the same period the OECD median rate declined by 18.6%.
Fatality rate per 10,000 registered vehicles
Australia’s rate of 0.6 deaths per 10,000 registered vehicles was ranked 15th out of the 27 countries with available data. The countries with the 3 lowest rates were Iceland (0.2), Norway (0.3), and Sweden (0.3).
27 OECD countries, 2023
27 OECD countries, 2023
| OECD member countries | Fatality rate per 10,000 registered vehicles |
|---|---|
| Colombia | 4.4 |
| Chile | 3.1 |
| Costa Rica | 3.1 |
| United States | 1.4 |
| Israel | 0.9 |
| Korea | 0.9 |
| Portugal | 0.8 |
| Lithuania | 0.8 |
| Canada | 0.8 |
| France | 0.7 |
| Ireland | 0.6 |
| Czech Republic | 0.6 |
| Australia | 0.6 |
| Austria | 0.6 |
| OECD median | 0.6 |
| Poland | 0.5 |
| Italy | 0.5 |
| Netherlands | 0.5 |
| Slovenia | 0.5 |
| Luxembourg | 0.5 |
| Spain | 0.5 |
| United Kingdom | 0.4 |
| Japan | 0.4 |
| Switzerland | 0.4 |
| Sweden | 0.4 |
| Finland | 0.3 |
| Norway | 0.3 |
| Iceland | 0.2 |
Between 2014 and 2023 Australia’s fatality rate declined by 8.9%. Over the same period, the OECD median rate declined by 26.8%.
Fatality rate per 100 million Vehicle Kilometres Travelled (VKT)
Australia’s rate of 0.5 deaths per 100 million VKT was ranked 10th out of 13 countries with available data. The countries with the 3 lowest rates were Iceland (0.2), Norway (0.2) and Sweden (0.3).
Between 2014 and 2023 Australia’s fatality rate increased by 0.6%. Over the same period, the OECD median rate declined by 8.1%.
About the data
This data comes from the International Traffic Safety and Analysis Group (IRTAD). In the past this publication has been released with an 18-month lag from the reference period.
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Limitations
IRTAD data is largely up to date to 2023, and consequently this edition references 2023. There was no 2021 publication.
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