🚗 Saving Lives

The chart that shows 113K reasons to celebrate, and a country not to.

Longtime Latinometrics readers know that there are some rules you can almost always count on when observing regional trends in Latin America. For example, Uruguay tends to be a regional leader in most matters, while everyone has strong opinions about Cuba’s placement in any chart.

Another rule of ours is that, if one random country in Latin America bucks a trend and is unique, it’s almost always Paraguay for some reason. Today is one of those days, as we look to driving-related deaths across the region.

First the good news: everywhere except Paraguay, the trend between 1980 and now has been downwards—something you can remind your parents and grandparents next time they tell you today’s drivers are worse than in their generation.

Increasing safety on the roads is arguably one of the most effective ways to save lives, given road accidents are the 8th most common cause of death for all age groups.

So how good are the news? In Mexico alone, 43K lives are spared each year compared to 1980 rates. Across the region, it’s 113K. That’s a lot of people thankfully still around today.

Our friend Paraguay needs some help in road safety. It has gone from the second-safest country for drivers in 1980 to one of the least safe. The late 2010s saw a massive spike in fatalities on the road, with the most likely culprit being an explosion in motorcycle ownership.

To give you an idea, the number of registered motorcycles in the country nearly doubled between 2014-2019, rising 95% from 414K to 809K, while driver safety, helmet use, and infrastructure haven’t kept up. In 2019, motorcyclists accounted for over half of all traffic deaths in Paraguay.

With traffic fatalities in general more than tripling between 2014 and 2023, it’s clear that national authorities need to step in and protect their drivers. Brazil’s got an even higher rate of motorcycles on the streets—maybe they can provide some tips?