Economic burden of road traffic accidents in Türkiye: a cost-based analysis (2018–2024)

Economic losses resulting from road traffic accidents impose a significant financial burden on countries. It is crucial to identify and quantify the damages caused by this burden, encompassing both economic and social dimensions. In this study, direct and indirect costs caused by road traffic accidents that occurred in Türkiye between 2018 and 2024 were analysed under 11 categories. Data from the Turkish Statistical Institute and the Association of Insurance were utilised. The direct costs included vehicle damage, insurance, medical, legal, road and environmental, and administrative costs. The indirect costs comprised production losses due to fatalities, disabilities, minor and severe injuries, human costs (loss of quality of life) and care costs for temporary and permanent incapacities. The cost estimation was based on the human capital, rule of thumb and value-transfer approaches commonly used in the literature. Economic losses ranged from 1.85% to 2.35% of GDP between 2018 and 2024. This escalation is primarily attributed to extreme macroeconomic volatility, particularly high domestic inflation and currency devaluation, which disproportionately inflated healthcare, vehicle repair and human capital valuations across all 11 categories, significantly outpacing the relative change in accident frequency during the post-pandemic recovery era.