Road safety is a growing concern worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that every year approximately 1.35 million people die, and 50 million people are injured, in road crashes. Injuries from road accidents are the eighth leading cause of death for all age groups and the leading cause of death among children and young adults.
In Azerbaijan, according to official statistics, 821 people died in road crashes in 2019, and a much larger number of people were seriously injured. Despite investments in road infrastructure and improved enforcement of traffic rules, road fatalities in Azerbaijan are much higher than in most European countries.
In 2018, the Government of Azerbaijan launched the State Road Safety Program for the period 2019-2023, with the ambitious objective of substantially improving the road safety situation in the country and reducing the number of fatalities, injuries, and crashes by 30%. Among other actions, the Program recognized the need to assess the socio-economic costs of road crashes. A lack of information on the socio-economic costs of road crashes represented an important knowledge and capacity gap for handling road safety problems in Azerbaijan.
To help fill this knowledge gap, and at request of the government, the World Bank supported a study on the Socio-Economic Costs and Human Impacts of Road Accidents in Azerbaijan, which aims to raise awareness of the socio-economic burden of road crashes and highlight the benefits of road safety improvements.
The study has conservatively estimated the socio-economic cost of road crashes in Azerbaijan at 1.6 billion AZN in 2019, which is the equivalent of 2.0% of GDP. It was identified that the human costs (65%) and damage to vehicles (20%) account for major proportions of the total costs. The other main costs included production losses due to the inability of people with road casualties to work (9%), medical treatment of road casualties (4%) and administrative costs (3%).
The study also assessed the impact of road accidents on poverty and shared prosperity, using a survey conducted among a representative number of road casualties, as well as in-depth interviews with casualties and/or their relatives. The two key direct impacts of crashes identified included the challenges of medical treatment and negative impacts on the ability of those injured in road accidents to carry out daily activities, in particular jobs, household work, education, sports, and other leisure activities.
The casualty survey showed that road accidents have important financial impacts on those injured in road accidents and relatives of casualties. More than half of the survey respondents reported problems with respect to carrying out their jobs and 10% reported a lifelong inability to work. About one-third (38%) of the respondents reported an income loss after an accident, including 15% in substantial income loss. These impacts were found to be stronger for the bottom 40% of the population in terms of income distribution, meaning that road accidents have a significant negative impact on poverty and shared prosperity.
In-depth interviews with road accident victims provided a personal picture of the impact of road accidents on households. Interviews illustrated the consequences of income loss for households due to the inability to work, with some respondents reporting loss of ability to afford the goods and services they were used to buying before the crash, or even to fulfil their basic needs.
According to the study’s findings, the majority of reported road fatalities and injuries (74%) in Azerbaijan are men, similar to the experience of most of other countries. Meanwhile, females spend more time providing home care for injured persons in the household.
The identification and quantification of the socio-economic costs of road accidents, and assessment of their human impacts, serve as a powerful illustration of the massive economic losses incurred by Azerbaijan a result of road accidents, and to encourage additional relevant policy actions and interventions.
To learn more about the study’s key findings, read this infographic
See also: A video interview with Sebastian Molineus, World Bank Regional Director for the South Caucasus, on the importance and development impacts of addressing road safety challenges.