The list of countries by UNODC homicide rate is typically expressed in units of deaths per 100,000 individuals per year. A homicide rate of 30 (out of 100,000) corresponds to 0.03% of the population dying by homicide.[1][2][3] The reliability of underlying national murder rate data may vary.[4][5] Only UNODC-vetted data is used in the main table below.[1] In some cases, it may not be as up to date as other sources. See further down as to why its data is used over other sources.

Homicide rates may be under-reported for political reasons.[6][7]

A study undertaken by the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development estimated that there were approximately 490,000 intentional homicides in 2004. The study estimated that the global rate was 7.6 intentional homicides per 100,000 inhabitants for 2004.[8] UNODC calculated a rate of 6.9 in 2010.[9] UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) reported a global average intentional homicide rate of 6.2 per 100,000 population for 2012 (in their report titled "Global Study on Homicide 2013").[10][11] In the 2019 edition, the global rate was estimated at 6.1 per 100,000 for 2017. [4]

Definition

The class of violent deaths documented in this article is intentional killing of others outside of war. Deaths occurring during situations of civil unrest are a grey area.
Map of countries by their intentional homicide rate (per 100,000 people). The year of the data varies from 2006 to 2018.
  > 20
  15 to 20
  10 to 14.9
  5 to 9.9
  1.5 to 4.9
  1 to 1.4
  < 1
  Data unavailable

Intentional homicide is defined by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in its Global Study on Homicide report[12] thus:

Within the broad range of violent deaths, the core element of intentional homicide is the complete liability of the direct perpetrator, which thus excludes killings directly related to war or conflicts, self-inflicted death (suicide), killings due to legal interventions or justifiable killings (such as self-defence), and those deaths caused when the perpetrator was reckless or negligent but did not intend to take a human life (non-intentional homicide).

Though some discrepancies exist in how specific categories of intentional killings are classified, the definitions used by countries to record data are generally close to the UNODC definition, making the homicide rates highly comparable at the international level.[13] UNODC uses the homicide rate as a proxy for overall violence, as this type of crime is one of the most accurately reported and internationally comparable indicators.[4]

Figures from the Global Study on Homicide are based on the UNODC Homicide Statistics dataset, which is derived from the criminal justice or public health systems of a variety of countries and territories.[4] The homicide rates derived from criminal justice data (typically recorded by police authorities) and the public health system data (recorded when the cause of death is established) may diverge substantially for some countries.[14] The two sources usually match in the Americas, Europe and Oceania, but there are large discrepancies for the three African countries reporting both sources.[15] For the 70 countries in which neither source was made available, figures were derived from WHO statistical models.[14]

Deaths resulting from an armed conflict between states are never included in the count.[16] Killings caused by a non-international armed conflict may or may not be included, depending on the intensity of hostilities and whether it is classified as 'civil unrest' or a clash between organized armed groups.[16]

UNODC's global study

All data in this section comes from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) website.[1][2][3][4]

By region

United Nations geoscheme with region names in the UNODC data source used in table here
UNODC 2017 murder rates per 100,000[4]
Region Rate Homicides
Americas 17.2 173,000
Africa 13.0 163,000
World 6.1 464,000
Europe 3.0 22,000
Oceania 2.8 1,000
Asia 2.3 104,000

Rates vary widely within regions. See info on secondary sorting within regions and subregions below.

By country, region, or dependent territory

The regions and subregions in the table are based on the United Nations geoscheme since the table sources are United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reports. The U.N. recognizes that variability in the quality and integrity of data provided by certain countries may minimize country murder rates.[17][2] Go to the more detailed country info in the references, and the country links in the table for more info.

Table has a total yearly count of homicides for each country. Rates are calculated per 100,000 inhabitants.

  • Note: When the regions or subregions are sorted the countries are also alphabetically sorted within those regions or subregions. Then shift-click rates or counts to secondarily sort countries by rates or counts within the regions or subregions previously sorted.
  • Note: Table last fully updated from data retrieved August 10, 2023 from UNODC. Individual countries updated since then.[1]
  • Note: Only UNODC-vetted data is used in the table.
  • Asterisk (*) in Location column indicates a Crime in LOCATION article.

Other multi-country studies

A 2020 study by InSight Crime found that Jamaica had the highest homicide rate in Latin America and the Caribbean, while Venezuela had the second highest rate.[18]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Intentional Homicide". dataunodc.un.org. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Table by country. Latest available data for most countries is for 2022. Can select for few or many countries, regions, years. You can shrink the width of the table to see all the options, and all the years you selected. To do so drag the zoom bar button at the bottom of the page. There is a dataset link to download all the data. Table last fully updated from data retrieved August 10, 2023. Individual countries updated since then.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Victims of Intentional Homicide: 2018". UNODC. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Map and table of rates and counts. Pick a country (or countries) in the sidebar "Country" dropdown menu. Then pick a year (1990-2018). Click that country on the map to see a timeline graph of homicide rates. Below the map see a timeline table of the rates and counts for that country or countries. There is a "Bulk data download" link at top right (hover to see name). May need to click twice to download.
  3. 1 2 3 "Homicide rate | dataUNODC". United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Timeline graph of "Victims of intentional homicide 1990-2018". Can select a country and a region. Table below graph shows data 1990-2018. Download link icon below table offers multiple formats just for selected country and region. Click "bulk data download" link icon twice at top of page to get Excel file that covers years 1990-2018 for all countries.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Global Study on Homicide 2019. Booklet 2. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). See page 11 for global rate. See page 9 about homicide rates as proxy for overall violence. See Box 1 on page 14 for criminal justice data sources versus public health sources. See figure 2 on page 14 for regional homicide rates in 2017. See figure 3 on page 16 for regional number of homicides. See page 85 about the six-booklet format of this study. Look for page numbers on the bottom of pages, and ignore the incorrect page numbers provided by your PDF reader.
  5. ↑ Richards, Patsy (27 May 1999). "Homicide statistics, research paper 99/56" (PDF). London, UK: House of Commons of the United Kingdom library, Social and general statistics section. See page 7 for section called "Definition of the offence of homicide". See page 29 for table of nations and homicide rates for the years 1994–97. It also has further info on how homicide is defined across countries.
  6. ↑ Fry, Don. (1985). Believing the news. ISBN 978-0-935742-11-4.
  7. ↑ Vizzard, William J. (2000). Shots in the dark. ISBN 978-0-8476-9560-7.
  8. ↑ Global Burden of Armed Violence Report (PDF) (report). Geneva, Switzerland: Geneva Declaration Secretariat. September 2008. pp. 67ff. ISBN 978-2-8288-0101-4. data from 2004-2007. The Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development.
  9. ↑ 2011 Global Study on Homicide: Trends, Contexts, Data. "data from 2010 or latest available year". United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Vienna, Austria.
  10. ↑ UNODC 2014, p. 12.
  11. ↑ Intentional homicide count and rate per 100,000 population, by country/territory (2000–2012). Data (in spreadsheet format) for UNODC report titled "Global Study on Homicide 2013". United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Linked from Global Study on Homicide – Data: UNODC Homicide Statistics 2013
  12. ↑ UNODC 2014, p. 10.
  13. ↑ UNODC 2014, pp. 102–103.
  14. 1 2 UNODC 2014, p. 99.
  15. ↑ UNODC 2014, p. 101.
  16. 1 2 UNODC 2014, p. 104.
  17. ↑ UNODC 2014, pp. 7–8.
  18. ↑ "InSight Crime's 2020 Homicide Round-Up". January 29, 2021.

Sources

Further reading

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