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Violence and injuries

Facts and figures

Injuries are defined by intent.

  • Unintentional injuries include road traffic injuries, poisoning, drowning, falls and burns/scalds (73%).
  • Intentional injuries are those caused by violence (27%).

Injuries have been traditionally regarded as random, unavoidable “accidents”. In the last few decades, a better understanding has changed these attitudes, and injuries – both unintentional and intentional – are now regarded as largely preventable.

Nearly 50% of all deaths from violence and unintentional injury are caused by suicide, road traffic injuries and poisoning in the WHO European Region

The years of life lost or lived with disability from injuries, expressed in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), account for 14% of the DALYs for all causes. These figures also include the physical and psychological suffering of victims of sexual violence, abuse and neglect, which disproportionately affect women and children.