Ireland ranked 10th on child injury deaths

Ireland has been placed 10th in a league table ranking 26 of the world's industrialised nations according to their injury death rates for children.

Sweden was the country with the least number of child deaths due to injury - it reported 5.2 deaths per 100,000 children aged from one to 14 years, between 1991 and 1995. Ireland recorded 8.3 deaths from intentional or unintentional injury during the same period.

Causes of such deaths included traffic accidents, fires, drownings, poisonings and assaults. Traffic accidents accounted for 41 per cent of children's deaths during this time.

Countries with a lower child death rate than Ireland were: the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Greece, Denmark, Spain and Finland. Ireland shared 10th place with Germany in the UNICEF report, "Child Deaths by Injury in Rich Nations".

South Korea recorded the greatest proportion of young deaths due to injury. It recorded 25.6 deaths per 100,000 population. Mexico, Portugal, the US and New Zealand also had high death rates for children.

Intentional and unintentional injuries were now the leading cause of child deaths in the world's more developed countries, the report said. Injuries have accounted for almost 40 per cent of deaths in the age group one to 14.

While there was a link between child injury death rates and national wealth, two of the richest countries, Switzerland and Canada, were in the bottom half of the league.

The report pointed out that if Ireland was to bring its injury death rate down to the Swedish level, 133 children would have been saved between 1991 and 1995.

However, child injury death rates have fallen steeply in recent decades. In the years 1971-75, Ireland's rate was 17.2 per 100,000 population.

Despite the reduction, the report found that not one country had legislated in all the seven obvious areas for child protection. They were: cycle helmets, speed limits in built-up areas, child safety seats in cars, seat-belt wearing, child safety packaging for pharmaceuticals, smoke detectors in homes and playground safety standards.

It also found that boys were 70 per cent more likely than girls to die from injuries.