Murder Rate by Country 2022

More than five times as many people were killed in homicides in 2017 as were killed in armed conflicts, according to the UNODC’s Global Study on Homicide 2019. Homicide rates may be influenced by various social and economic variables.

Elements such as gender stereotypes and socioeconomic inequality, unemployment, political instability, guns ownership, and the drug trade are all factors that contribute to murder.

More than 65,000 deaths each year were linked to organized crime and gangs from 2000–to 2017, and up to 19 percent of all homicides documented worldwide in 2017 were linked to organized crime and gangs, the analysis says.

In 2017, the following countries had the highest murder rates per capita::

1. El Salvador (61.7)
2. Honduras (41.0)
3. Venezuela (49.9)
4. United States Virgin Islands (49.3 [2012 data])
5. Jamaica (56.4)
6. Lesotho (43.6 [[2016 data]] per 100k people)
7. Belize (37.8)
8. Saint Vincent And The Grenadines (36.5 [2016 data])
9. Saint Kitts And Nevis (36.1 [2012 data])
10. South Africa (35.7)

Every nation having murder rate statistics may be found at the bottom of this page.

According to 2017’s global murder rate, there were 6.1 murders per 100 thousand people worldwide. Honduras, El Salvador, and Jamaica have murder rates up to ten times higher than the world norm, making Central America and the Caribbean a global hotspot for crime.

Following closely after were the South American nations of Brazil (30.8), Venezuela (49.9), and Colombia (25%).

South America and North America had lower rates, but the average of 17.2 was still higher than the rest of the continent. “The raw figures for many nations are not accessible,” explains Africa’s rate of 13.0.

According to official murder statistics, Oceania had a 2.8 homicide rate. However, the information in hospital records “tends to diverge dramatically,” indicating that many killings may be missing unreported to the authorities. Less than half of the worldwide average was seen in Europe (3.0) and Asia (2.3).

The affluence of a country, the efficacy of its law enforcement, the availability of weapons (particularly guns), and the harshness of the penalty for committing murder are all known to contribute to reduced murder rates and decreased crime overall.

For example, Japan is a prosperous country with tight gun control laws and the death penalty for murder.

These are the 10 countries with the lowest murder rates in 2017 (per 100,000 population).

1. Japan (0.2)
2. Singapore (0.2)
3. Hong Kong (China) (0.3)
4. Luxembourg (0.3)
5. Indonesia (0.4)
6. Norway (0.5)
7. Oman (0.5)
8. Switzerland (0.5)
9. United Arab Emirates (0.5)
10. China (0.6)

Each country’s homicide rate is listed below (number of murders per 100,000 people). Please remember that these numbers exclude accidental fatalities and “self-inflicted murder,” more generally referred to as suicide.

Murder rates in these 10 nations are the highest in the world:

1. El Salvador (52.02 per 100k people)
2. Jamaica (43.85 per 100k people)
3. Lesotho (43.56 per 100k people)
4. Honduras (38.93 per 100k people)
5. Belize (37.79 per 100k people)
6. Venezuela (36.69 per 100k people)
7. Saint Vincent And The Grenadines (36.54 per 100k people)
8. South Africa (36.40 per 100k people)
9. Saint Kitts And Nevis (36.09 per 100k people)
10. Nigeria (34.52 per 100k people)

Recommended: Most Dangerous Countries in the World 2022