The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has reported that Africa recorded the highest aviation accidents globally in 2025, despite an improvement in safety performance in many countries of the continent.
The association, in its 2025 Annual Safety Report released on Monday, disclosed that during the year Africa recorded seven accidents, with an all-accident rate of 7.86 per million sectors, down from 12.13 per million sectors in 2024, but still the highest globally.
According to the report, while aviation accident rates declined in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) compared with the previous year, fatality risks increased in 2025.
Specifically, the IATA report indicated that fatality risk in Africa increased from zero in 2024 to 2.19 in 2025, reflecting fatal incidents during the year, and the most common accident types were runway excursions and “other end state” events, a category used when accidents cannot be clearly classified due to insufficient information.
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The report’s data also reflected that 71% of accidents involving Africa-based operators occurred with turboprop aircraft, highlighting operational and infrastructure challenges affecting these aircraft types.
In addition, IATA reported that Africa accounted for the majority of “other end state” incidents recorded globally since 2018, necessitating the need for stronger compliance by the various countries’ aviation authorities with accident investigation requirements under the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, particularly Annex 13 which governs aircraft accident investigations.
Globally, the report showed that aviation safety performance slightly improved in the year under review as the overall accident rate declined, though fatalities increased compared with the previous year’s rate.
The global aviation industry association further disclosed that the global all-accident rate improved to 1.32 per million flights in 2025, compared with 1.42 per million flights recorded in 2024 as the industry recorded 51 accidents across 38.7 million flights in 2025, compared with 54 accidents across 37.9 million flights in 2024.
However, IATA revealed in the report that fatal accidents increased to eight in 2025 from seven in 2024, while on-board fatalities rose to 394, higher than 244 deaths recorded in 2024.
It listed the most common accident types globally in 2025 as tail strikes, landing gear incidents, runway excursions and ground damage, showing that many accidents occur during take-off, landing or ground handling.
Despite the increase in fatality rate globally in the year under review, IATA still maintained that aviation remained the safest mode of long-distance travel, recalling that long-term safety performance has improved over the past decade.
