Whenever you go on a trip around the world, one thing you are concerned about if you are a driver is the state of the roads, so we wanted to find out which are the countries with the worst roads in the world.
There are many things that make roads qualify for being “the worse,” such as the number of deaths due to road accidents, for instance. That alone, of course, is not enough to tell whether a country’s roads are bad or not, but adding in how many cars there are – with the more cars the higher chances of accidents and of roads becoming unusable due to the wear of the asphalt-, a country’s road length and the number of kilometers of express motorways, as well as the GDP per capita, should help form a better picture.
In order to create our list today, we gathered info from the World Health Organization and NationMaster, a site that collects info from the world’s governments, putting together various statistics so we can all compare them easier. We were interested in the above-mentioned criteria.
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This won’t tell you, of course, just which country has the craziest drivers in the world, although you might be able to tell by the YouTube videos that they either live in Russia, or on some Greek island where common driving rules are ignored.
It will also not tell you which are the worst cities to drive in the US, which is Los Angeles if you need to know, although the worst cities to drive in 2016 list was led by Washington DC, according to a list published by Forbes.
If you’re wondering what the situation is like across the pond, well, the list of the worst countries to drive in Europe is led by Estonia, but it doesn’t make it on today’s list. On the other hand, the Conde Nast Traveler site puts Romania’s capital Bucharest at the top of the list of the worst places to drive in Europe, and given how congested the traffic is here day in and day out, we’d have to agree.
There are many other locations, however, that can be considered among the safest places to drive in the world, such as these 11 countries with the best roads in the world, where the United Arab Emirates tops the charts. The quality of the roads, the traffic laws, and the number of cars make these nations some of the safest countries to drive in.
That being said, here are the 10 countries with the worst roads in the world.
10. Rwanda
Score: 99
First up on our list of 10 countries with the worst roads in the world is Rwanda, a small African nation that is called home by over 11 million people. The country has over 14,000 km of road, but only about 2,600 of them are paved, with most of the dirt roads becoming hard to travel on during the wet season.
The nation also sees quite a few deaths due to traffic incidents, namely 32.1 for every 100,000 population, as per WHO’s data.
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9. Niger
Score: 101
Over in western Africa, we find Niger, a country that’s home to some 20.6 million people. Unfortunately, the country makes our list due to the fact that there are 22.6 traffic deaths for every 100,000 people. This is due, in part, to the fact that the country’s major cities have poorly organized road signs and broken traffic lights. Furthermore, the country doesn’t have a very expansive road system, and only 21% of the roads they do have are paved and classified as primary roads. Secondary roads consisting of lateral and gravel roads make up 13.5%, while tertiary roads, which are generally dirt roads, make up 7.5%. The rest of 58% are rural tracks and trails.
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8. Ethiopia
Score: 103
Next up among countries with the worst roads in the world is Ethiopia, a country that sees about 25.3 deaths for every 100,000 population due to traffic issues. The country, which is located in the Horn of Africa, has over 102 million citizens, but those of them who do drive, are considered as lacking in discipline, which pushes traveling sites to warn foreigner drivers to offer other cars enough space to avoid a collision.
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7. Mozambique
Score: 109
On the shore of the Indian Ocean lies Mozambique, home to nearly 29 million people. Unfortunately, the country has one of the highest road traffic death rates in the world, with 31.6 deaths for every 100,000 people. The country doesn’t have a lot of great roads. In fact, traveling sites mention that the state of the roads in Mozambique isn’t too great, and that you’ll have quite a few issues if you’re planning on traveling with a low clearance vehicle. The country has a lot of dirt roads which become close to inaccessible during wet seasons and are often flooded.
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6. Burkina Faso
Score: 109
Located in the western parts of Africa, Burkina Faso is home to over 18.4 million people. The country’s expansive territory has loads of roads, but they’re pretty much dangerous to drive on. In the past few years, things have gotten a bit better, but they’re still not doing too great. Data shows the country has over 2,500 km of paved roads from a total of more than 15,000 km. It also sees about 30 road deaths for every 100,000 citizens. Overall this makes Burkina Faso one of the 10 countries with the worst roads in the world.
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5. Kenya
Score: 114
On the fifth spot in the list of 10 countries with the worst roads in the world we have Kenya, an Eastern African country that has some 48.6 million citizens. The nation has some 160,000 km of roads, but under 62,000 km are classified. Even less, namely close to 14,000 km are paved The nation sees quite a few road deaths, WHO data shows, namely some 29.1 victims for every 100,000 citizens.
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4. New Zealand
Score: 116
Over in the Pacific Ocean there’s an island country where Tolkien’s stories took life for the big screen. The country has over 94,000 km to roads, and only about 66% of them are paved. The roads, however, are quite hazardous, with many perils along the way, including snow and ice in some areas, railway crossings without barrier arms, drainage ditches, and more. The roads are also extremely busy, with many cars being driven around the nation’s roads. One of the largest perils, however, are, ironically, foreigners who don’t know how to drive in the country’s conditions.
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3. Singapore
Score: 118
Up next on our list of countries with the worst roads in the world we have Singapore, an island country that’s home to some 5.6 million people. A few years ago, the nation had over 9,000 km of road, taking up some 12% of the land. Since the country is already extremely small, that’s a bit of an issue. The main problem with Singapore’s roads is the fact that they are overcrowded. In fact, just a few months ago, the government imposed new regulations banning citizens to get any new cars for the next couple of years. It even went as far as to start an electric car sharing program to reduce the number of vehicles on the road and encourage public transport use.
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2. Senegal
Score: 127
Next we have another African country – Senegal, which has a population of 15.4 million people. The country’s road network spreads for about 14,500 km, but only about a third is paved. Senegal has a very short motorway, of only 34 km, but more are either under construction, or will go under construction in the near future. The country sees about 27.2 deaths for every 100,000 people, so that’s quite high.
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1. Malawi
Score: 129
Finally, at the top of our list we have Malawi, home to over 18 million people. The country’s authorities say the road network is composed of over 15,000 km, of which only 26% are paved, with the rest being either dirt or gravel roads. Malawi also sees some 35 road traffic deaths per 100,000 population, which is the second highest in the world, shows data from the World Health Organization.
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That being said, it’s clear that every driver feels, at least once per day, that they must be using the world’s worst roads, no matter where they live. Some perspective, of course, is great in such situations, because knowing there are countries where dirt roads are the norm, or where traffic conditions are way worse than where you live might make your traffic jam slightly more bearable. These have been the 10 countries with the worst roads in the world.
