Childhood injury rates vary by social group more than any other cause of death. There is a consistent trend for higher death rates in poorer children for a large number of causes. The relationship between poverty and injury mortality varies between countries , the gap being narrower in some countries compared to others. The gap in Britain is large and smaller in Sweden.

In Britain poorer children are more than twice as likely to die from trauma than richer children. Whilst accidental deaths in the under 16s have declined in the UK by more than one third between 1998 and 1997 the gap between rich and poor children has continued to widen.