The data is in the Unicef Innocenti report card document, A league table of child deaths by injury in rich nations, published last week. The report found that each year more than 20,000 children in the world's wealthiest nations die from injuries.
Traffic accidents, drowning, fires, falls and intentional injuries account for more than 40 per cent of deaths and, for every injured child who dies, many more live on with varying degrees of disability and trauma.
The UK is ranked second, after Sweden, in terms of having the least numbers of child injury deaths. At the bottom of the table are the United States and Portugal, where the rate of child deaths is more than twice the level of the safest countries, and South Korea, where the rate is four times higher.
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