CHICAGO, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The percentage of fatalities from road crashes in total fatalities from all causes of death is 1.3 percent in the U.S., less than the world's average rate of 2.4 percent.

By placing road fatalities in a broader public health context globally, researchers at the University of Michigan (UM) Transportation Research Institute found that the U.S. ranks 129th out of 183 countries on this measure, according to a news release by UM on Monday.

Using data of the World Health Organization from 2015, UM researchers compared deaths from traffic crashes with fatalities from stroke, cancer and heart disease, and found that the number of fatalities from road crashes is about 26.5 percent of fatalities from strokes, 5.8 percent of that from cancer and 7.3 percent of that from heart disease.

Worldwide, the rates are 21.5 percent for stroke, 15.4 percent for cancer and 15.3 percent for heart disease.

In several countries in the Middle East, fatalities from road crashes constitute the largest percentage of deaths from all causes, claiming seven of the top eight spots. Oman with a rate of 9.4 percent, Qatar with a rate of 8.6 percent and Saudi Arabia with a rate of 8.1 percent, lead the way.

Africa also ranked high on this measure, with nine African countries among the top 20.

On the contrary, several European and Pacific Island nations report the lowest fatalities from road crashes as a percentage in all fatalities: Sweden, the United Kingdom and Micronesia have the rate at 0.3 percent; and Norway, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Kiribati have the rate at 0.4 percent each. Enditem

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