A half-million people die each year in traffic accidents

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Traffic accidents take a half million lives and injure another 15 million people around the world each year, and the numbers are growing along with the growth of the world's urban areas, the Red Cross said Wednesday.

Most of the deaths now are coming in developing countries, where lax driver training and poor road conditions abound, according to the annual World Disaster Report issued by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The report was released in New Delhi, where traffic accidents killed more than 3,000 people last year, according to newspaper reports.

CNN's New Delhi Bureau Chief Anita Pratap reports

The Red Cross report said accidents cost developing countries $53 billion annually.

"Traffic accidents already cost the (developing world) almost as much as all the aid they receive," said federation president Astrid N. Heiberg.

From ninth to third biggest killer by 2020

If the current trend continues, road crashes will be the third largest cause of death and disability after clinical depression and heart disease by the year 2020, the Red Cross predicted. Traffic accidents ranked as the ninth biggest killer in the world in 1990.

Heiberg told CNN the main reason accidents are increasing is simply more traffic everywhere. But developing countries still experience far greater numbers of accidents and more serious consequences.

Roads in developing countries are cluttered, even with animals

In Ethiopia, for example, traffic fatalities are a hundred times higher than in Japan and Australia. The gap reflects the difference in health facilities and traffic conditions, the report said.

Congestion, variety of traffic cause crashes

Roads in developing countries are congested and cluttered with all types of vehicles, pedestrians and animals. Developing countries also lag behind the developed world in road safety campaigns, driver training and seat belt laws, it said.

"The traffic in India, the way people are driving here, the lack of separation between trucks, cars, pedestrians, cows. Wow! I'm happy to come back alive," Heiberg said.

Nepal, Bangladesh, China, Swaziland and India follow Ethiopia as countries with the largest number of accidents.

Agency also reports decline in humanitarian aid

The Red Cross report also noted that humanitarian funding for disaster relief by major international donors fell 17 percent between 1992-96.

Aid from the world's biggest relief providers, the United States and Japan, fell 25 percent. Italian aid dropped 40 percent and Australia, Austria, Canada, France and Portugal also registered double digit decreases.

The Red Cross attributed the slump to the failure of aid agencies to set specific and achievable goals and to be accountable to donors and beneficiaries.

"The increasing tendency in donor countries is that people should fend for themselves," Heiberg said.

The report also analyzed the impact of U.S. sanctions on Iraq. It noted that many humanitarian agencies and governments question the effectiveness and efficiency of economic sanctions, which the report termed "the economic equivalent of blanket bombing."

CNN's New Delhi Bureau Chief Anita Pratap and The Associated Press contributed to this report.