WPR: Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan ranked near the top globally in terms of the number of auto-related fatalities per million population
Auto safety remains a major issue for the countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia, with the two regions having some of the highest traffic-related death rates worldwide.
The roads in Central Asia appear to be getting more dangerous. Auto-related deaths spiked in Kazakhstan in 2024, totaling 2,579, the highest number in a decade. Tajikistan also recorded its highest total of fatalities in 2024, 552, since at least 2005. The death rates were lower for Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, and both have made modest improvements in reducing fatalities over the past decade. Even so, Kyrgyzstan recorded the second highest traffic accident rate in Central Asia in 2024, with about 1,000 per million people. Conditions are not any better in the Caucasus. Georgia registered 444 auto-related deaths in 2024, a slight uptick over the previous year and consistent with the numbers over the past five years. Armenia and Azerbaijan saw declines in fatalities in 2024. Still, the numbers for Armenia are worse today than they were a decade ago. According to data compiled by the World Population Review, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan all ranked near the top globally in terms of the number of auto-related fatalities per million population.
Kazakhstan had the highest fatality rate of any state in Central Asia and the Caucasus with 129 per million people in 2024. Local observers say a wide variety of factors contribute to the high auto-related death rates in the regions, including poorly maintained vehicles, aggressive and drunken driving, as well as poorly marked and maintained roads. Financial analysts, meanwhile, suggest the economic impact of auto-related deaths is significant. According to a World Bank estimate, roughly two-thirds of those who die in car crashes in Central Asia are males between the ages of 18-44 who are often the main source of income for their families. Many families seek state benefits to partially offset the economic trauma caused by a sudden, road-related death. In Kazakhstan, for example, the government was spending “around 1,645 USD annually for each family without a breadwinner in Kazakhstan.”
