MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines recorded its highest number of deaths from land transport accidents in over a decade in 2023, with Pangasinan emerging as the deadliest province for road users, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

A total of 13,125 individuals died in land transport-related incidents last year, marking a 7.2 percent increase from 2022 and the highest annual death toll since 2010. These fatalities accounted for 1.9 percent of all deaths nationwide, underscoring the worsening state of road safety across the country, its data reported on Wednesday.

Pangasinan consistently recorded the highest number of road traffic deaths in the country from 2010 to 2023, except in 2012. The province alone accounted for 3.5 to 5 percent of annual land transport deaths, based on PSA data. 

Other high-fatality provinces include Nueva Ecija, Batangas, Cagayan, Isabela, and Davao del Norte, while Camarines Sur remained in the top 10 for most of the past decade.

Among urban centers, Quezon City overtook Davao City in 2020 as the city with the highest number of road crash deaths, maintaining that lead in subsequent years. Davao had previously topped the list from 2010 to 2019.

The PSA report also confirmed that young adults aged 20 to 24 were the most affected demographic, accounting for the highest number of fatalities every year since 2010. In 2023, individuals aged 20 to 29 made up 24.5 percent of all land transport deaths.

Men remained disproportionately affected, comprising over 80 percent of road fatalities annually. In 2023, 2.8 percent of all male deaths were caused by land transport accidents, compared to 0.7 percent for females.

The month of December consistently saw the most fatalities, making up up to 11.8 percent of annual deaths from 2010 to 2023, likely due to increased travel during the holiday season.

While road deaths briefly declined in 2020 during pandemic lockdowns, dropping to 8,765 fatalities, the number quickly rebounded and exceeded pre-pandemic levels as restrictions were lifted.