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Injuries in the European Union 2003 - 2005

“Injuries in the European Union 2003 - 2005” is an up-to-date summary of the main results of current injury statistics and surveys at EU level.

European injury data made publicly accessible through international data providers such as Eurostat or the World Health Organization (WHO) is combined with recent hospital-based data of the EU Injury Database (IDB) on home and leisure accidents in order to give a comprehensive view of injuries in Europe at a glance.

Firstly, this report quantifies the detrimental impact of injuries on the public’s health within the EU:

  • injuries in the EU kill over 250 000 people each year
  • injuries are the leading cause of death in children, adolescents and young adults
  • injury mortality greatly varies between EU Member States
  • injuries consume almost 10% of hospital resources

Secondly, this report and its underlying database provide unique information for assisting injury prevention - numbers about what injuries occur, when, where, how, why, and to whom – especially for the growing domain of home and leisure injuries. This kind of detailed information is new and provided only by the Injury Database (IDB) - publicly and online accessible since June 2006.

Thirdly, this report introduces a cross-sectoral approach (“comprehensive view”) to injury reporting. Traditionally, injury prevention in EU Member States was separated into independent sectors – traffic, work, consumers, violence - and so were the data sources on injuries. The comprehensive view of injuries in this report allows for a comparison of major injury outcomes by injury sector, providing added value for public health and cross-sector injury prevention. For example:

  • one fatal injury is accompanied by over 200 non-fatal cases, comprising a rising number of disabled persons;
  • traffic injuries account for approximately 20% of fatal injuries but only for 6% of non-fatal
  • “home and leisure” is the setting in which happen most injuries by far, but provides the lowest insurance cover for its victims;
  • EU-wide, two thirds of all injuries are treated in hospitals, making them an important setting for injury surveillance;

To download this report click here