BAJANS are injured at a greater rate in road accidents than people in the vast majority of countries around the world.

Barbados was ranked in the Top 10 nations with accident victims according to the size of their population, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit, which compiles and publishes data on a range of economic and social issues every year.

It reported that Barbadians were getting injured in road accidents at an annual rate of 763 victims for every 100 000 people on the island, putting it in the eighth spot, just ahead of Japan, the United States, Serbia, Slovenia, Austria, Canada and South Korea, among others. Only Qatar, Kuwait, Rwanda, Costa Rica, Panama and Jordan were higher on the list.

No other Caribbean country was listed among the top 50 states when it came to road accident victims.

However, Suriname, Jamaica and Puerto Rico had a much higher rate of road fatalities than Barbados, which did not make the list of countries with a high death rate from accidents.

A contributing factor to Barbados' injury picture may be the number of cars on its roads. It had about 305 cars for every 1 000 people living within its borders and was ranked 33rd in the world.

New Zealand led the list with 619 cars, while Ethiopia had the least with one car per 1 000 persons. The United States, with 468 cars, was 11th while Britain had 439. The ownership did not include trucks, vans and buses.

Five years ago, Barbados was among the countries with the "densest" road networks and was ranked sixth in the world. At the same time, it was counted among the places with the "most crowded road networks," with 62.6 vehicles per kilometre of roads, stated the Economist Intelligence Unit. (TB)