ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - At least 870 people were killed in nearly 5,000 car accidents across Iraq during the year 2024, a significant decrease from the previous years, Iraq’s Ministry of the Interior announced on Sunday.

Iraq saw "4,948 traffic accidents, with the percentage of accidents decreasing by 30 percent compared to previous years,” Interior Ministry spokesperson Miqdad Miri said in a press conference on Sunday. "The number of deaths due to accidents during the year reached 873 cases, as the number also decreased this year by 37 percent.” 

Miri added that they issued “1,125,016 driving licenses” while traffic violations amounted to “3,163,247” cases, a 17 percent decrease compared with the previous year.

In early November, the Director General of the General Traffic Directorate Raad Mahdi Abdul Sahib Al-Ubaidi, attributed the significant decline in road accidents to advancements in traffic technology and enhanced safety systems

Excessive speeding and failure to abide by traffic signs, rules, and regulations are the key causes of fatal car accidents in Iraq, and the Kurdistan Region. Wearing seatbelts reduces death rates by 45 percent, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Car accidents are one of the major causes of death in Iraq due to the poor state of roads.

Around 1.1 million people die each year as a result of road traffic accidents globally, with over 90 percent of the accidents occurring in low, and middle-income countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

"Between 20 and 50 million more people suffer non-fatal injuries, with many incurring a disability,” according to the WHO.