NationMaster - Discussion - Crime > Murders (per capita)

Savior 23rd February 2013	To all criticizing this list, please do realize, that this list is from 2006.
Malaka 3rd February 2013	That is quite a story there "Witheld". Where did you get your source material from? Did you compare ALL violent crime or just all gun crime? How about you cite your source material and studies. Just "trolling" the comments section of another study to try and refute it's conclusions gives your position no weight. This study is specifically for the number of convictions for intentional homicides. All this study says is that it is easier to commit murder in the United States and get away with it because the justice system does not convict enough people for their crime. It is funny that of the main components of crime in all of your societies that you covered, illegal drug use is not among your areas of note. The FBI concluded in 2010 that over 90% of all gun homicides in the U.S. are associated with drugs or gangs in one way or another. Yes there are a lot of guns in America, but have you ever studied how many murders are committed by legal firearm owners? No... you and those like you want to emulate Europe as "progressives" at all costs. You have turned your blinders on and allowed yourselves to be blinded by the studies out there that have been manipulated by many sources. Every country reports crime in different ways. Japan only reports gun crime by numbers of SOLVED AND CONVICTED gun crimes. The United States includes people killed by police officers in the line of duty in its gun death statistics. Also, for you to compare one society to another is to compares apples to oranges. Every society has a different history and path to bring it to where it is now. You simply cannot enact ANY law that will make us statistically like any other country. It is impossible and you are a fool to think that gun control in the US will work the same way that it has for any other country. By the way... There is another statistic that is often overlooked by all of YOUR criminal statistic studies. It is the "Perception Of Safety walking in dark" statistic. The Unites States is tied for second place with Canada and is only behind Sweden. All of these other "civilized" nations that you tout over the United States fall below. What matters is the true feeling of the public. If the citizens of these other nations that you claim are so much farther along than the United States actually feel less safe that the citizens of the United States, then where does that put everything that you are searching to accomplish?
Alex 23rd January 2013	Maybe I don't understand it because I'm not from a state like Texas, Maybe I don't understand because I'm not even from America, even though I've taken care of my American wife and my American kids and American grandkids for 10 years now within the US, but one thing I do understand. A child has 5 to 6 times more chance to be murdered in the US than in most West European countries, A child has 12 times more chance of being killed from child abuse in Texas than in Italy. Comparing the US with Columbia (Really??) Child poverty rates in the US are many more higher than in most Western European countries. Crime rates are higher in the US, despite the prevalent death-penalty states. It all sounds so tough, more guns, more safety, guns don't kill people, people kill people (?), war on drugs while having a higher addiction rate than in W. Europe . Maybe it's time to grow up and see that these "tough" Cowboy & Indians attitude has only added to the extreme violence and crime in your nation. For the sake of my American children and yours and I love the US, stop the non-sense arguments for more guns, less government, lower taxes, etc etc. You get what you deserve and it shows.
blue dog 23rd January 2013	where is the usa in the murder stats per country per capita??? it is not in the line up why?
glenn parrish 22nd January 2013	Why would you withhold your name if your "infomation" is creditable?
John 20th January 2013	Why the omission of murder stats for the US, UK, and Canada, and the website's inability to compare them? Is the website's owner involved in social engineering, and trying to manipulate public opinion?
Sheep 16th January 2013	2013 FIRST COMMENT: We lived through armeggedon
j 7th January 2013	Probably the Turkish figures are high due to the conflicts with the Kurdish people, might that be true..?
Ina South Africa 16th December 2012	Are you on top of things with murders in South Africa? There are murders each day. Most are not even mentioned in the newspapers.
bjoern kunter 16th December 2012	please take a look at the source. The data comes from the "EUROPEAN Institute for crime prevention..." The list only includes European countries.
Kingfisher 26th November 2012	US: approximately 50 murders per 1 million per year. is this an oversight in your chart?
Anne 26th November 2012	@Mike, maybe your country should take a long hard look at its gun laws and you should stop using black people as a scapegoat.
Sternococktail 26th November 2012	Where is USA and Sweden in the table for murders per capita???
filona 21st November 2012	it seems that the most intentional murders world wide are now commited by europeans and hispanics
Edson Costa Santos 18th November 2012	Why are so many people asking about polls of Venezuela, The Philippines, if this is clearly a European list?
LibertarianPatriot 10th October 2012	Hey, just asking, what are the sources for these statistics? I am considering using these facts in my discussions but I want to know if they are well cited. Also, does the United States really not make this list? I mean, I am really glad it doesn't, but other statistics seem to place the United States as "violent". I suspect they are manipulated numbers, but I have no real base for this claim. Thanks to anybody who can answer my questions!
Andrey 8th October 2012	Ukraine definitely isn't sixth.. What about India, the USA, etc? These nations, as well as many that fall below Ukraine, have much higher murder rates..
DD 21st September 2012	Wow, this is really flawed. As at least one other poster found; the U.S. has about 48 murders per million people. This would put the U.S. at just above the Ukraine. Yet, it is not on the list... giving folks the impression that it is not as bad as it really is. Makes me wonder who the folks are at NationMaster and what their agenda is.
joe 19th September 2012	this cant be true.....lots of murders in daily life in india.....
jeremy the capitalman 18th September 2012	this is very interesting
mr x 24th August 2012	this isn't statistic for kosovo, this is for the country ALBANIA... a population with 2-3 million. So I don't understand why you are mentioning Kosovar Albanians. And for Albania, I heard allot of the crimes and murders go unreported. allot of the blood feud murders go unreported, i heard in the 90's Albania had 2000 to 3000 murders due to blood feuds that went unreported by the police. and it's still high unreported murders.
murxus 20th August 2012	Seems to me the data here is completely fictional. Comparing it with UNODC data and other sources (national and EU, wiki) the numbers are too different...
Vance Mack 13th August 2012	This list suggests that these deaths are for convictions. Not a true indication of the inherent violence of some nations. Where's Mexico on the list? Check the number of murders committed from 2008 to the present - 1,000's!This list needs a reality check!
Vance Mack 13th August 2012	Convictions for murders does not give a true perspective of the inherent violence within a country. Has anyone wondered why Mexico is not in the list. Check out the drug deaths/murders from 2008 onwards. Were talking 1,000's. This list needs to get a reality check.
Koshy 9th August 2012	Where is India? I always assumed ours is one of the most crime ridden countries. Anyway, happy to learn that India has a low rate of homicide.
Purya 8th August 2012	The reason for the Turkey being first is the Kurd suicide bombers and terrorists; those numbers don't say anything about Turks!
DS 28th July 2012	The Swiss are armed to the teeth, yet have 1/3 the murder rate of USA. Guns don't kill, people kill.
Myles Mudge 26th July 2012	These are only European countries, to all you geniuses wondering where Honduras is?
Chop 26th July 2012	They forgot to mention that these figures include those for EU and EU-wanna-be (Turkey) countries. Also, I am sure they show more about the level of judicial efficiency than actual number of murders committed
Bad List 24th July 2012	Follow the link they give for the International Statistics on Crime and Justice ... it bears no resemblance to this chart.
PCMPT 22nd July 2012	@Jeremy, Right, because religion has never caused violence, nor perpetuated the economic, social, and perceptual conditions necessary for violence. Hundreds of billions a year spent on churches, clergy, and fairy tale books instead of education, food, water, and energy development. That couldn't possibly create economic hardships that typically cause these things. You don't need a book and place of worship to be a decent human being, especially when you don't have shoes, food, or clean water. Health and education trumps religion in terms of thinking and acting altruistically...always. Quit trying to spread useless ideology and Google some Neuroscience topics, your ignorance is revolting.
bill 16th July 2012	wheres india and pak .....lol
J.E 24th June 2012	Funny how the U.K. and the U.S. are not on this list.
baldous 23rd June 2012	these rascals are making cool money by writing a lot of rubbish they get paid for us to write these comments you see for all the adsence adds they have got in these pages and besides we fight with each other writing comments they have a upper hand
Greg 20th June 2012	In America the murder rates should be compared with the culture. Anglo-Saxon murder rate is lower or equal with European murder rates, our African American murder rates are higher than anywhere in the world.
Fact Man 15th June 2012	South Africans don't seem to understand that nearly all the countries directly above and below them in the murder table have more corrupt police.
BOBO 2nd June 2012	The ANC has placed a monitoruim on revealing crime stats in South Africa _ Genocide watch has placed SA on Level 6/8. Please Google Farm Murders in SA...or genocide watch for more info ...Shocking.The ANC government fails to protect it`s citizens.
Spec 28th May 2012	Incomplete only has data for Europe Central Asia and Australia / New Zealand. Mexico has a drug war which saw 50000 people die in a decade. Thats 5000 a year.
hINDU 25th May 2012	WHERE IS PAKISTAN
Reid 22nd May 2012	Bear in mind that some countries' murder statistics are too accurate. South Africa for example sometimes puts car crashes into it's murder statistics which a lot of countries don't do, therefore artificially inflating it's numbers.
angel 28th April 2012	I think america shud be at the top i was reading stats from the fbi and from 1969 to 2008 america averaged 16000 thousand murders a year and 3 million people incacerated so i dnt understand how they are not on the top of the list especially when they have a huge amount of kids who are killers as well as going postal at schools,colleges etc there murder rate must be huge !!
Dash 23rd April 2012	How about homicide ratings in Honduras? Or is Central America not included in this...
Samazon 23rd April 2012	U.S. population: 311 million. Murders in 2010 14,700. My math makes that 47.26 murders per million in the United states. Why is the U.S. not on this list?
zé do rock 15th April 2012	this data seem to be just for europe and a few other rich countries. really dangerous countries are colombia, venezuela, south africa, jamaica, russia, etc
Rael 6th April 2012	Where is Russia? Where is South Africa? Where is the USA? This list reads as though it was compiled by a pro-gun lobby
jefferson 6th April 2012	i observed that most of the countries is came from european union... hmmmm...
Dave B, Whittier, Calif., USA 28th March 2012	Is it just me or did anyone else notice that this is not a list of countries around the world, but a list of European countries only. Thus the omission of the many normal suspects topping the international lists.
Iskinder 22nd March 2012	2011 homicides ---Honduras 86 per 100,000 inhabitants,El Salvador 71, Saint kitts & Nervis 68, Venezuela 67. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate
incredible 12th March 2012	wow i realy did not know that turkey was the leader of crime in the world. incredible news for me,but i think that crime in US is much more massive than in turkey,isn't it?
2010 murder rates 25th February 2012	Per million residents- Countries: Honduras 775 \| El Salvador 648 \| Venezuela 570 \| Jamaica 521 \| Guatemala 415 United States 48 Cities: Juarez 2853 \| Caucasia 1863 \| La Ceiba 1582 \| Chihuahua City 1390 \| Tumaco 1368 New Orleans 208
The Grim Reaper 24th February 2012	@Cruz, dude, that's why it's called per capita!! a country which has big population would be down the list, do you see China here? no, because the number of murders will be divided by BILLIONS...so the more population a country has, murder per capita would be lower, kapeesh?
Rod 23rd February 2012	Latin American countries continue to dominate the murder rankings, even though they have the most corrupt police. Where are they?
Andy JS 8th February 2012	Brian Peter: are you aware that there have only been 5 murders in the last 6 weeks in Greater London, which has a population of 8 million? That probably makes London the safest city in the world in terms of homicide, unless the rate in Toyko is slightly lower.
Expat South Africa 31st January 2012	Where is South Africa? Regardless, the figures will have No Meaning, as the numbers state for Convictions. Do they even bother to find the murderers in South Africa? Nevermind that, can the police be trusted to even supply the logged murder cases to the authorities?
Frank 28th January 2012	I think that you should revise these numbers. Tey should amount of persons versus 100,000 inhabitants.
pozli 26th January 2012	Turkey's murder rate as of 2009 is 3.8 per 100,000, why did this list list it so high? Here is a list that makes more sense: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate
TJ 22nd January 2012	This list contains only European Countries as the source is European Institute for Crime Prevention... List is missing a lot of usual suspects
Dr.Vijayarajan-Madurai, India. 20th January 2012	I do not know why India is missing in the hit list? lots of murders or taking place in India almost every day.Please refer NCRB or BPRD of India for information on this.
Greg 19th January 2012	Strange,Finland ranked so high for murders when Finland has been voted by the UN,Newsweek as the most desirable country to retire to and one of the safest countries in the world http://www.nectareal.com
Inka 17th January 2012	Actually, Pozli, Turkey is not even in Europe, let alone Eastern Europe. lol And you can check the source at the end of the page, these numbers come from official statistics.
pozli 16th January 2012	They are very incorrect about Turkey's Murder rate. Turkey is known to have one of the lowest murder rates in Eastern Europe, and even the rest of Europe. Where did they get thes numbers from?
Josh 12th January 2012	To all of those questioning the integrity of the data- you should. Please note that this site is basing the rate on murder CONVICTIONS. If no one is ever charged for the crime, the stat isn't included. So this will make developed countries look worse. Many people ask "where is South Africa?" Indeed, it has quickly become one of the most violent countries in the world. Things are so bad there, even murders often go unreported. The government doesn't even know who has been killed, let alone convicting who did it. Therefore, you won't be likely to find it on a list like this.
ex SA resident 5th January 2012	There was always law and order in SA before,with all crimes solved and punished. But the present regime only wants to stuff as much money into their collective pockets and don't care for anything else. If you can't be objective please don't comment
Nelson 2nd January 2012	I'm from Venezuela, kingdom of Hugo Chavez, around 50 murders every weekend just in Caracas, the capital city, and we are not on the list. It says at the bottom that this list is based on the "Number of convictions for intentional homicides in the given year." That explains it. In Venezuela, 9 out of 10 murders go unconvicted, unpunished. This list is no good if it is based on convictions instead of actual murders.
Sydney 27th December 2011	To the South Africa Resident. Leave AS then. How many years did AS government kept the people in bandage, not to talk about the crimes against them. White on black crime was ok up to 91 if I remember. Got not sleeping!
SA Resident (South Africa) 24th December 2011	Where is South Africa. It is becoming impossible to live here. Black crime is out of control.
Carlos 24th November 2011	The US murder per capita is actually one of the lowest in the world. What surprises me is that Mexico and El Salvador is not ranking higher. As of 2011, they lead the Americas in murder per capita.
Me 18th November 2011	I agree, Spain is one of the safest countries in the world. You can spend years there and it's almost impossible to see any kind of violence. Not even a simple struggle.
Moffat K Nsofwa 7th November 2011	I do not understand why there is war in most of these country. is it because of people are power angry or is it because there is no enough wisdom in our heart. it seems people do not understand the meaning of life. I therefore call upon everyone of us in the world to stand up and fight this vise other wise we will be finished by this selfish people. Kind regards Moffat
Lithuanian 28th October 2011	Proud to be Lithuanian. No we less kill each other, we kill other people. we rob them kill them, lol. All Scandinavian cops are afraid of us. lol lol
Onur Kaya 27th October 2011	#Turkey# I completely disagree with the number given for Turkey. Here is why: According to the police records in 2006, ''Murders (per capita)'' was 68 for Turkey, and in 2008; 39. It is still relatively high, but at least not as high as this website claims. You can find the source below. I advise you to check EUROSTAT for statistical facts. Wiki link I give at the end also works for this case. http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/images/5/5b/Crimes_recorded_by_the_police_-_Homicide%2C_2002-2008.PNG Lastly....Pastor T, you can send a 'love team' if you want. But please also send them to countries which are responsible of thousands of innocent civils' death including kids in the region of Middle East and North Africa; and the entire world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate
Anon 27th October 2011	@Jeremy: i senses your being a religion troll
Jeremy 25th October 2011	@ Mike and his black people comment. The murder rate would decrease by about 90% if Americans, both white and black, would follow the commands of our Lord and love our neighbors. Maybe we should start studying God's Word instead of studying statistics on how to downgrade other races. Just a thought.
xxxl 21st October 2011	I think on the first places should be Honduras and Salvador, they have the most crimes per 1 milion people . I read a statistic this year and Salvador had around 80 murders/1 milion p.There are the most dangerous gangs in the world.
Anti Bigot 19th October 2011	Just glancing through these comments, I've noticed there are quite a few racist ones. We cannot just "get rid" of all the Kosovo Albanians or all the blacks. What kind of world do you live in?
Pastor+T 18th October 2011	@ditter - That's sounds murderous in and itself. Not all Albanians are criminals! And again - those who hate, hate themselves. Your comments are quite alarming. I am NOT Albania - not that there's any thing wrong with being an Albanian - I am human. Much love y'all
Pastor T 18th October 2011	How is it that no Turkish comments? Those figures are alarming. I am looking for a Turkish person's side of the story. There's always two sides to story. Want to send a team out there to show some love - realoveministriesinternational.com with much love.
AuhManDuh. 13th October 2011	IloveTacos
AuhManDuh. 13th October 2011	AMERICA! YAAAA! WOOO (:
amunin 1st October 2011	The rate for Ireland is wrong. With a population of about 4 million a rate of 5.84 murders per 1 million people would mean there was only 23 murders there in 2007. In fact there were 84 murders in Ireland that year. So the correct stat is roughly 21 per 1 million people.
ditter 25th September 2011	Kosovo Albanians are the biggest criminals in Europe.If i had a power i would not let the scum to come to my country. Germany should get read of them as quickly as possible.
Cruz 22nd September 2011	I dont see India, a Billion plus population country featuring in this List.
johnknight 15th September 2011	And Brazil's murder rate of 232 per million is right up there with Trinidad and Tobago. However, NOBODY beats DC, Detroit, New Orleans, and lil' ole Gary Indiana, with more than 80% Blacks AND murder rates CONSISTENTLY higher than 800 per million.
Jl 10th September 2011	Why must it be about the blacks? If white people stop committing white collar crimes then the rates and the amount of money being lost would be better. How many of the other countries have an issue with white collar crimes?
Mike 9th September 2011	Here's a fascinating statistic. The murder rate in America would drop by ~50% if black people were not included. The murder rate among the black population in America is ~17/100,000 people- very close to the murder rate in Africa- 20/100,000. Fix black people in the US, and crime stats will look like most other Western countries.
John 8th September 2011	Why isn't Russia on the list, Russia has one of the highest murder rates in the world and the highest murder rate in Europe, Russia has a murder rate of 14 per 100,000 which is almost 3 times higher then the US murder rate of 5 per 100,000.
ola 28th August 2011	These numbers vary WIDELY from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate
Bob Fitzgerald 20th August 2011	Where's America ranked???
Emil 19th August 2011	Did quick calculations- assuming they're correct (or nearly correct) USA had roughly 48 murders per million people.
MG 17th August 2011	What about the US where does it fall? I am assuming #1 and they are too embarised to give stats.
Rose 20th July 2011	I am a South African, and we always get told that we have among the highest murder rate in the world - just read any of our papers/media, and crime/murders are an everyday occurence in every city, yet we don't even feature on this list????
Vega 8th May 2011	For all you wondering why Mexico isn't on these stats, the reason is that this ones are up to March 2006 and the statistics are per capita. Back in 2006 the rate of murders in México was low, only around 8 000 murders that year (though a little higher than 2005) and if you compare it to its 100 million habitants then the per capita number is extremely low. México actually had been getting lower and lower murder rates every year for 12 years from 1994 to 2006 but in this last 4 years the murder rate went up remarkably. However the murder rate right now is still low enough to not appear in this type of lists considering the fact that they have 112 million habitants registered now. So even if there's 40 thousand murders a year, the per capita stats won't put them close to the first places.
mkhorses 25th April 2011	Trinidad and Tobago had 550 murders in 2008-thats about 2 per 1000 people-that should be on here!
Answer to where is Trinidad! 20th April 2011	Ok people here is the answer from the UN. Trinidad is DRUM ROLL PLEASE. Number 5!!!!!!! (at least for the last set of data - 2008). Very sad. this list needs a TON of work.
John Doe 10th April 2011	Brazil is not in this list because Brazil is hors concours on the matter, Brazil is the Michael Jordan of Murders per capita by country.
mavis 9th April 2011	Colombia and Venezuela have the most unreported murders on the list, they would be the top two at the moment out of the countries here if the true number of killings came to light. There are serious, evidential levels of underreporting/disappearances in the two countries.
Mobi 8th April 2011	Someone commented that "the UK is safe" please do not beleive that for one minute. The government has been manipulating the way that violent crime is recorded for decades, they do not want the British people to realise that the governments policy of oppresive "laws" such as the Prevention of Crime Act 1953 which effectively prevented people from being able to defend themselves has backfired and has caused a steady rise in violent crime. Preventing people from arming themselves for the purpose of self defence has actually done nothing more than disarm and disempower the law abiding while empowering the criminals who remain armed as always (they dont obeys the laws do they!) the blood of every British victim of violent crime is partly on the hands of the politicians who continue to deny us our basic human right to defence of our lives.
Ace 30th March 2011	You guys need to look at the Bahamas, it a country of not more than 390,000 people with a current murder count of 30+ in only three months ...take that!!
mw 29th March 2011	Somalia doesn't really have a government so they probably don't keep records of these sort of things.
Jimmy 27th March 2011	Extremely surprised that Somalia is not in the top ten with the civil war etc. Rest is pretty much believable
Si 25th March 2011	Dee, what kind of question is that? Do you follow fiction or facts. Try to find the facts next time.
Dee 24th March 2011	Why have the Israeli murders of the Palestinians gone unrecorded?
ucr0110 17th March 2011	"Azam 16th March 2011 Ma'Shallah, by Allah's mercy the Islamic states are NOT even on the list!" ---------------------------------------------------------- Look not at the raw numbers but at the more relevant per capita numbers. Kyrgyzstan #13 Saudi #61 Qutar #62 Pakistan is not even on there because they do not keep anything even close to legit numbers. The international law enforcement community also rejects the numbers of Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, Quatar and a number of Islamic Law countries because they rarely include the number of women who are murdered by family members or community. In the US the huge majority of women murdered (and reported as murdered for the statistics) are murdered by family members.
Facts, not opinions 15th March 2011	I don't know why Israel isn't listed, but you don't get to choose who you think should be in the top place or the top five. These are stats, they can't be chosen simply because you want to beat up on a country you don't like.
stephanie 14th March 2011	im very surprise at jamaica's crime rate. jamaica is still the best and i still love jamaica
student. 12th March 2011	China isn't present because it's legal in China! In China, cannabis is cultivated for its seeds and for fiber, and has a long medicinal history.
Sharjeel 27th February 2011	In quran { ch 5 v 32 } we read:If anyone slew a person(male or female, muslim or non-muslim )--unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land--it would be as if he slew the whole mankind: and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole mankind.
geene 21st February 2011	This list is outdated by at least 8 years! today's most murderous country is actually venezuela, mexico is not among the top three and brazil is not even on the list yet brazil is one of the main murder capitals of the world!
someone 14th February 2011	I am trying to prove that having the death penalty for murder makes no difference whatsoever to how many murders are committed. So far this list , as long as its genuine, proves this correct to some extent. look at the results for the U.S. I make that about 41 murders per million. The U.S. has the death penalty. Now look at the U.K., thats about 14 murders per million. The U.K. has no death penalty. There is however, 1 factor that may throw this, the U.K. has strict firearms control, The U.S. doesn't. But I think that speaks for itself.
C.D 7th February 2011	it is ColOmbia not ColUmbia
Resident of Guatemala 4th February 2011	This list is extremely arbitrary, not sure how it is possible. Although it is clearly out-dated I doubt it ever was accurate, either. There are several countries with high murder rates omitted and the numbers imply that this is an absolute world-wide ranking which is very misleading. I didn't look up statistics for other continents, but as for the Western Hemisphere El Salvador (71 per 100,000), Honduras (67), and Guatemala (46) currently have much higher murder rates than Mexico (13) or Colombia (32) (whose murder rate has supposedly dropped in recent years due to anti-narcotrafficking efforts, placing significant pressure on Central American nations). This was discussed in a recent Economist article. http://www.economist.com/node/17963313
David (United States) 2nd February 2011	For reasons of political correctness, murder rates in the US are not officially kept by race, however you can get that information for incarceration rates and here they are for 2004: Incarceration rates per 100,000: Whites: 393 Latinos: 957 Blacks: 2351 Now you cannot necessarily correlate this to murder rates but it would seem to be a starting point to make assumptions. By these statistics then you would expect to find that murders committed by whites are about 10% of the total committed in the United States. This would put the murders committed by evil, gun-toting American whites somewhere between Japan and Saudi Arabia on the list if they represented a country by themselves. This is something everyone familiar with the US understands very well but it's considered rude to say aloud: The blacks and latinos in our country are committing our crimes and if you stay out of their neighborhoods you are likely to remain quite safe, otherwise - you are asking for trouble.
Just see it 17th January 2011	Statistics are not racist - they are just statistics
David F 15th January 2011	How is this for a comparison 2009 FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports 10,224 Homicides that involved a gun 2009 Canada reports 594 murders of which 1/3 (196) by gun .
Mike 13th January 2011	Another english website viewed by a bunch of people who has been only brain washed propagandized by english culture of how countries like China "Should" have higher murder rates when most their police don't even have guns, while countries in US has 250,000,000 firearms per 350,000,000 population. What you think gona happen?
kesha brown 12th January 2011	Its crazy to me that people are so quick to say that black people are commiting all the murders. Lets get real people blacks are not the only one that can murder.
sweet_tomato 6th January 2011	I'm just wondering why Philippines is not listed? Is this the statistics correct?
Jessie 1st January 2011	Interesting stuff... Everyone knows the reason why COCO-Lombia is number one. Curious where countries like Afghanistan, Turkey, Egypt, and Israel would fall. Kinda disturbing to see so many Eastern European countries so high. Europe is one big racial pot ready to boil over.
Reg Natarajan 29th December 2010	Francesco is 100% right. Per million would be much easier to read.
Francesco - Italy 26th December 2010	Please change the unit of measurement from "per 1,000 people" to "per million people". Results would be the same, but could be easier to compare! For instance, "USA 42.802 - Japan 4.99933" is much more intelligible than 0.042802 and 0.00499933 to non-mathematician like me...
sawooop 20th December 2010	UK is safe, where i live in bristol is nice, when i went to visit some mates in the U.S. i got robbed at gun point by some blacks in Raleigh, NC. the US is way more violent then the UK
Ron 18th December 2010	Gee Bob, Math is hard. Maybe you should define what you mean by 'crime rate' then... giving a value-per-person is a perfectly sensible way of comparing different-sized populations.
Michael 17th December 2010	For Bob, who wanted the "rate" ... and was dissatisfied with the numbers per 1,000 (or 100 or 100,000 or whatever) ... this IS what is called the "rate." If you have a problem with the numbers (they're not formulas - just simple decimals) besides that, you can look simply at the rating. #1 has more murders than #2 and etc.
Bob 16th December 2010	Explain to me why these people cant just tell us what the crime rate in each country is. I mean, really. If we just want a simple answer why cant people just give it to us? But instead of telling us straight out, they make us have to work out all these math problems just to get an answer. All i wanted to know is what the crime rate was. Not per 1,000 people.
FP 7th December 2010	the reason a majority of these countries you cry for on this list is because not even the countries themselves realsie how many murders are happening and how many people live in their country.
WHAt? LV 30th November 2010	And where is Brazil?? where every 5 minutes some one is killed??
JAY 29th November 2010	this list is true..............
Xavier 28th November 2010	Makes sense El Salvador did NOT make the list because the data only takes into account the reports from 1998-2000. Meanwhile violence in El Salvador only began to rise until after 2002 when the U.S. began to deport MS gang members.
AO 26th November 2010	Where is the Cayman Islands??
Anon 22nd November 2010	@Hans: I hate to break this to you. First, the only people required to keep assault rifles are members of the Swiss Army (about 13% of the population). Second, gun control in Switzerland is relatively strict. They require a permit, which involves a background check. You also have to demonstrate that you need to carry a weapon and that you have the proper training to use it. Also, I know many conservatives balk at the gun control regulations implemented by Clinton, but during his tenure as president, violent crime with firearms fell each year of his presidency even though they had risen each year of the previous presidencies of George H.W. Bush and Reagan. Now, to be fair, Clinton backed up gun control with increased funding for additional police officers.
Bob 22nd November 2010	Where is Fiji ?
TL 21st November 2010	Where's The Bahamas on this list? Today is November 22, 2010, and so far this calendar year The Bahamas, which has a population of approximately 340,000, has recorded 80 murders. That's a little less than 0.2353 murders for every 1,000 people, which would rank us at #5 in The World. Not quite the top of the list, but "Better" than most!
ANTI-RW 21st November 2010	Just in response to "RW" 02 of November post- i really hope are not insinuating that all black people are criminals! as a white women living in South Africa with a lot of multi-racial friends i find your comments incredibly distasteful and offensive. Have you ever even been to South Africa? AND i have NO idea how you can say "Look at South Africa before 1994 and after 1994" Firstly before 1994 our previous Government used to TORTURE, RAPE AND MURDER PEOPLE without giving any record of their death, they would simply murder people who stood up for their rights. The "criminal records" that you are telling people to look at fail to include these murders. Our crime rate is exceptionally high and i cant deny that but we as south Africans are working together to stop crime from continuing but all good things take time and hard work. The only reason you can say there was "less" crime pre-1994 is because our country was a dictatorial militant state so naturally people were too scared to commit crime. Please just stay in the states and stop making reference to something you know nothing about :)
Hans 21st November 2010	Thomas L, wake up. You cite Switzerland as an example of a low murder rate and then suggest we restrict our access to guns to achieve a similarly low murder rate. Switzerland requires each citizen to keep his military issued rifle in his home after service. This, among other factors, keeps the crime rate (and possibility of another holocaust) low.
Elle(america) 7th November 2010	I totally agree Rufus S,you people need to stop hating on America. You guys are just jealous of america because they are the number one superpower in the world. These are statistics and statistics dont lie so piss off!!!!! oh, and another thing stop hating on puerto rico,again you guys are just jealous because they have the support of the united states and your country has no one.
ohp5 7th November 2010	What about Mexico these days? Where thousands of people are killed each month.
sss 7th November 2010	where is pakistan.
wnvvm 6th November 2010	There is one murder for every 5,000 people in Puerto Rico. This makes it the most violent country in the Western Hemesphere. In a total population of only four million people (4,000,000) there have been over 800 murders so far this year.
rw 1st November 2010	I have lived in Texas all my life, my ancestors came here from Britian, Ireland, and France in the 1860's. I have never been a victim of crime, we have spent most of our life with our windows open and our doors unlocked, its very safe, but its also 93% white. Its ashame that political correctness keeps us from facing reality and seeing the truth. Look at US cities before the 60's and after the 60's. Look at South Africa before 1994 and after 1994
me 26th October 2010	This data relies heavily upon reports of crimes and many of the countries at the bottom of the list, such as qatar, saudia arabia, indonesia do not investigate nearly all reported crimes. As such, they are not reported in official statistics. As for the crime rate in the USA, the country is well past it's sustainable population rate and the increased level of homocide is likely linked to population pressure/poverty in the innercity ghettos and favellas (see Detroit, Los Angeles, San Antonia/Fort Worth/Dallas/Houston).
Rugbyslayer 26th October 2010	Leo, gun ownership is the most significant factor in the US murder rate being three times that of Australia. Except the reality and buy a gun so you can shoot back!
Cool Breeze 26th October 2010	@ Leo...actually gun ownership in Detroit isn't even close to being outlawed. I have multiple registered weapons and a permit that allows me to carry a concealed pistol.
Leo 25th October 2010	It isn't the prevalence of guns that makes the murder rate so high. The murders in the US primarily happen in places where legal gun ownership it outlawed. Like NYC and Detroit and Chicago. These people who are killing one another would simply find other ways to do it, it wouldn't really discourage them from killing not to have any guns.
JOE. (BRITISH) 23rd October 2010	WHY IS THE UK #46?? WE HAVE THE HIGHEST MURDER RATE IN EUROPE!!
lara 18th October 2010	You guys are forgetting that Brazil is a huge Country,and not every where in Brazil is violent, don't forget Rio de Janeiro is a State,and there is Rio de Janeiro City, that's where all the favelas and violence are, not the whole State. Same with Sao Paulo,that is a State too,with a big city with the same name(same as New York) Just because Sao Paulo city is violent,doesn't mean the whole State is. Then, when you see big Country like Brazil, being less violent then small Countries like Poland,or Germany, its really not a big surprise too me, don't you forget that it is by per capita, go learn about Brazil and see how big it is. Beijos, tchau. sorry about my bad English.
Trip 13th October 2010	Try to use your brains 2 seconds. The data is collected and provided by the governments. The fact that china has a "low murder rate" might not be only due to the death penalty...
YOKO 9th October 2010	CHINA ,TAIWAN,SINGAPORE is not in the list...chinese arent dat brutal
PASATH 7th October 2010	I completely agree with SURIYA, why isn't Sri Lanka on this list after the countless murders of tamil and sinhalese civilians that the Tamil Tiger terrorist organisation have committed.
wew 6th October 2010	is this post since what month or year?
abbey 28th September 2010	hong kong is not a country...i hope they mean china.
Wholesale Jerseys 27th September 2010	I am glad to read this post, its an interesting one. I am always searching for quality posts and articles and this is what I found here, I hope you will be adding more in future. Thanks
Al (Canada) 23rd September 2010	China's low murder rate has little to do with death penalty. Mostly you cannot buy or own a gun in China unless you are a military or a farmer in a dangerous wild area. As well police are part of the community and know their citizens. There are no NRA and no one can peddle guns to kids. As for Michael who claims China is autocratic, you might need to review your information source. The tea party is not a reliable source. On paper China is run by the communist party. But they have not operated as a communist country for more than 20 years. In practice it is ran by big money, pretty much like here. The main difference with America is that in China the standard of living is going up at a dizzying pace and in the US people are loosing their houses. Don't get me wrong, China struggles to keep greed under control. They face lots of challenges and it is far from a perfect system. But the prime minister does NOT have absolute control. However they do handle crime and violence in a much more effective way than we are. Safety and actual freedom is equal or better than most western country. Actual law abiding citizens in Shanghai are much freer than the average American citizen. They can flaunt there $100 000 diamond encrusted cell phones without a care. Try that in washington DC at 1:00 AM. Let see how safe you'd be. Democracy is rooted in education... Based on the kind of of disparaging and uninformed comments I see on the average blog, I'd say Democracy is in big trouble. Putting down others and shifting the blame around does not change the facts. Washington DC is among the most dangerous capitals in the world, with murder rates in the same range as Columbia. Wow that really blows me away!
Khy 13th September 2010	Venezuelan goverment document that recently leaked showed that the number of homicides was saw at .73 per 1,000.
vamshi 12th September 2010	hope my indian subcontinent and the world wil be free of crimes and criminals.the so calld criminals should know killing is not great at all living in peace is worth all
vamshi 12th September 2010	hope my indian subcontinent will decrease its rank.nd the criminals worldwide should know killing is not great at all living in peace is worth all
Mike 9th September 2010	Where are India and Pakistan?
Khang 6th September 2010	China, Vietnam, North Korea not on the list because this communist countries give a bullet in the head right after they got convicted.
realist 30th August 2010	Surely South Africa is no.1. Please let us have at least one thing that we come out on top of. We come second even with the ANC government's lies - so we know we are definitely first!!!! Viva Africa Viva!!
Frank 29th August 2010	It is nonsense just talking about "murder pr. capita", like it is to talk about "death pr. capita". Do they mean PR. YEAR?
Johnno 29th August 2010	Most of the comment leavers are ignoring the caveat that the UN put on these statistics, and printed above: "Crime statistics are often better indicators of prevalence of law enforcement and willingness to report crime, than actual prevalence." One of the reasons that the UK has high levels of reported crime is because attitudes to the police and law enforcement in general are quite different there; the whole culture and structure of policing is different in Britain than in most other countries - especially different to here in the US. Furthermore, the British state collects crime statistics in a remarkably proactive way, independent of recorded crime, called the 'British Crime Survey', whereby sociologists interview 16,000 randomly selected citizens a year about their experiences, and extrapolate from that. Finally, the Labour administration reclassified crime in Britain, so that a crime had been committed if someone (not eeven necessarily the victim) thought it had. This led to a near doubling of reported crime in the first half of the noughties. The only reliable comparative crime statistics are those for murder, for two reasons: 1. Murder is difficult to hide everywhere (whereas child abuse, rape and even common assault are not). 2. Murder is defined in the same way in every territory (whereas child abuse, rape and even common assault are not). On the only truly comparable measure, we in the US score remarkably poorly.
Prof.Gringo 28th August 2010	The comparison of El Paso to Cd. Juarez is a very faulty one. Much of the violence in Cd. Juarez is spurred on by the crackdown on the Mexican drug cartels by the Mexican govt. at all levels. Those same cartels (and many others) are all over the US. But the US govt. is quietly letting them import, distibute and sell their various "products" while paying lip service to enforcement. As for gun control, that's easy enough to explain: In the USA almost anybody can buy a gun. Many of the people working for the drug cartels are in fact non-Hispanic US citizens whom purchase the weapons and sell them to or transport them for the cartels into Mexico. As for those in the US who say Mexico is a failed state, look at the US first: Huge economic crisis. Most people live on credit. That nice house? The bank owns it. Don't think so? Trying missing a few morgage payments. That new car? The bank owns that too. Try missing a few payments and leave that car parked out front (of your bank owned house) for the repo man. Millions and millions of Americans are working in low-wage, low skill service-sector jobs. These jobs are increasing and even people with college degrees are working in these jobs. But the US is failing to train engineers and high-tech, high-skill workers. Just leave that to India. The truly hard, hot, dirty and dangerous jobs, Americans refuse to do. But the migrants that do those jobs are refused visas so they must labor in the shadows, unprotected and exploited while lazy rednecks complain that their $25 an hour factory jobs are gone. Don't worry, those good paying, blue-collar unionized jobs aren't "gone" they have just relocated to China where a factory worker makes $100 a month. And guess what? Americans are so stupid they continue to buy foreign made products and put themselves out of work. Free trade is just another way to outsource labor costs. And Americans sit around and worry about things like gay marriage, gun control, flag burning etc. While the USA continues to become a failed state. Wow! BTW: Does gun control work? YES! Simply look at the chart. Canada vs. USA, Canada wins! Canada is 20 places below the US. The UK follows closely.
Vico 27th August 2010	Where's Brazil? I know from other sources that brazil has the highest criminality rate.
Mia 26th August 2010	It speaks volumes on society, parenting, societies ills are not for the lack of religion, but rather for the lack of brother and sisterhood. People with Guns do kill people, guns make it much easier, people with the desire to have what others have, kill people, the inability to control anger kills people, de humanizing others leads to murder. These stats don't even cover violent sexual crimes against women and children,human trafficking. There is so much aggression in this world Sad state of affairs everywhere. regardless the rankings, this is from 2000, no doubt the crimes are much higher now.
Mr. Statistics 23rd August 2010	The homicide rate in the U.S. among European-Americans is around 4-6 per 100,000 -- this number varies a little bit between cities. The homicide rate among African-Americans runs just over 40 per 100,000 and varies greatly between cities. Homicide rates among Hispanics run just under 10 per 100,000 (9/100K - not much higher than Western Europe). These numbers came from FBI statistics in the latter 1990's (somewhere between 1998 and 2000). Armed robbery rates run circa 60/100K in the U.K.; 80/100K in Italy; 120/100K among Americans of European and Hispanic descent; 1240/100K among Americans of African descent (10x that of Europeans). The last numbers came from FBI and Interpol stat.s (early 1990's).
sai smert 21st August 2010	Americas murder rate is more than China and India and the higest in the devloped world above asia europe some taliban countries
The-King 21st August 2010	Saudi Arabia is 61 ,thank god am a Saudi thank god i can leave my house with the door open without having any fear (i actually do that)
stevie B 21st August 2010	In response to the El Paso argument (and I have no axe to grind here as to the morality or otherwise of gun control) the issue is never as clear as the argument states. For example if the immigrant from Mexico who now legally owns a gun in Texas shoots a trespasser in his house it will not be counted as murder, yet the same man doing exactly the same thing across the border will be charged with just that. This illustrates how international crime statistics cannot be taken at face value. Crime is subjective upon the culture of the nation. underage sex in the US for example can trigger a rape charge. there are many nations where women reach consent at a very young age and some nations where consent is presumed!! I have spent a lifetime traveling and have lived on four continents and the only unifying factor I can find linking crime is that the less cohesive and homogenous a population the more crime seems likely. In societies where a distinct culture is prevalent there appears to be a greater chance of a low crime rate overall.
law 19th August 2010	Look at Juarez, Mexico vs El Paso, Texas, which is in effect one large city, the people on both sides are the same and Spanish is dominant on both sides of the border, many rich people move to el Paso but many more of the most poor cross illegally. If you go to either side you will notice that the populations are identical. Juarez has a murder rate of 120/100,000 and effective total gun ban, El Paso has a murder rate of 2.12/100,000 and almost no restriction on gun ownership except that criminals can’t buy or possess guns. The gun control policy of el Paso is serving the city well while in Juarez it appears to be a total failure. Gun control advocates seem to think that it is the gun control that determines crime levels, therefore, to avoid being hypocrites you must admit that the gun control policy of Juarez and El Paso have shaped the crime rates in those cities because the populations are highly mixing and very similar. The question is, why does a poor person in Juarez take up a gun (when it is illegal) and use it for illegal purposes, while the same guy might cross the border illegally later and own a gun legally and never use it for illegal purposes?
law 19th August 2010	Ted, first off, owning firearms is a civil right. Go look up McDonald vs Chicago. Perhaps you also don’t like it when black people or women vote. Maybe you would like to ban people from expressing themselves. Who knows what other civil rights or civil liberties you don’t like. You probably aren’t even a US citizen. But here’s the problem, you think there is a club of “civilized nations” that are better than all the other nations and should look down on them. I do not agree with that. I don’t think the UK for example is “better” than any other nation. They are simply different. We can compare gun control failure in other VALID nations as well. Like the total gun bans in Nigeria, Jamaica, and effective gun bans in Mexico. Colombia has a firearms ownership rate of 5.9 per 100 people China has a rate of 3.0 per 100 Nigeria has a rate of 1.0 per 100 Yemen is about 70 per 100 South Africa is 13.1 per 100 Switzerland is 46.0 per 100. India has 4.0 per 100. Brazil has 8.8 per 100. In fact the three countries with the most gun ownership added together have relatively low crime rates compared to all the nations with very low gun ownership rates like Nigeria, brazil, Colombia, south Africa which all have rates of violence that are very high. Germany, Canada and Greece have high gun ownership rates (about 30 per 100) and low violent crime rates. Please learn so you don’t sound ignorant in the future. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_gun_ownership
veggiedude 18th August 2010	Saudi Arabia and Qatar is way low at #61 and 62. But keep in mind in those countries you can kill a woman and it isn't considered murder if it complies with Sharia law! Also note, countries with death penalty show it has no effect in stopping crime.
Pete 17th August 2010	Sorry Ted, UK which bans guns has a higher robbery rate than USA as well as 9 other countries. Also Australia, New Zealand and UK are #1,2,and 3. in Percentage of people who will be crime victims in their life times. (all 3 countries ban guns). USA is #15
Ted 15th August 2010	The U.S.A.is the gun capital of the world.There's more guns per capital then any other country in the world.There murder rate is the highest for a so called civilized country.
Marcelo 15th August 2010	Chile has almost the same rate of UK and Canada??¿?¿??¿?, and Finland has much more, when I went to Finland I felt much more security in the street than when I walk in the streets of Chile, now I am very confused with that's rates....., if are ok that rates, well well for Chilean people they had a very safe country if you compare with another of the region.
E Louise 12th August 2010	YOU WANT UPDATE: For doubters read the WALL STREET JOURNAL of AUGUST 11, 2010, article: JAMAICA'S GROWING VIOLENCE THREATENS RETIREE ECONOMY. Retirees returning to their homeland Jamaica are being assaulted and murdered for their guaranteed income they worked so hard and long to acquire in the United States and Britain; no wonder Jamaica has one of the highest homicide rates in the world.
E Louise 12th August 2010	YOU WANT UPDATE: For doubters read the WALL STREET JOURNAL of AUGUST 11, 2011, article: JAMAICA'S GROWING VIOLENCE THREATENS RETIREE ECONOMY. Retirees returning to their homeland Jamaica are being assaulted and murdered for their guaranteed income they worked so hard and long to acquire in the United States and Britain; no wonder Jamaica has one of the highest homicide rates in the world.
mlnd 12th August 2010	its from 1998-2000.....and a number of countries were not part of the survey. also consider the fact that its only "reported murders". the most dangerous countries are the ones who dont report....
SHE 7th August 2010	FOR Gods sake philippines do not belong... thanks a lot
Elwyn Richards 4th August 2010	I am fed up with all the crap I've heard about Britain being a safe place to live. I live in London and in the past 14 years I have been burgled 6 times and mugged twice. My nephew was stabbed to death just over three years ago,he was 15. Some of my neighbours have also been burgled and had their cars stolen by so-called joyriders. My wife and I have taken holidays in different cities in America including New York, Chicago,Atlanta and Los Angeles and never had any trouble. I know where I would rather be living and it isn't this God forsaken hell on Earth.
bee 31st July 2010	who said Sweden has the worst crime rate in europe? I don't think so. I live in Sweden.
afghan 31st July 2010	where is afghanistan?
Vinicius, Brazil 27th July 2010	Yes, it's strange not to see Brazil in this list. But since we have a very populous country, in percentage we may not be that bad. If the numbers related to criminality are high in Sao Paulo for instance, we have to remember that this city has almost 20 million people. The ration would show then a crime per capita not so high. Its worth of notice that I'm just doing an observation. I don't have the numbers to say how violent Rio or São Paulo is to give a firm figure.
Clinton 22nd July 2010	The stats are 1998-2000, about 10-12 years old, so things might have improved in some places and become worse in others in case you were wondering. Have a look on the site at; SOURCE: Seventh United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems, covering the period 1998 - 2000 (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Centre for International Crime Prevention
Dave (Nova Scotia) 17th July 2010	Go to Google Earth, go to Johanesburg, go to street view, now: Does your city have walls and gates with barbed wire, electric fencing, ATD signs on nearly every residence of middle class or richer families? Go to Soweto and you will see almost the same thing. Who whants to live like that!
JAMAICA HERE I COME 17th July 2010	I go to Jamaica at least three times a year and never have any problems. Crime is everywhere, I plant to move there in a couple of years. Nowhere more beautiful and tranquil.
kevdogg20 16th July 2010	wow, im from colombia but live in australia...now i know why my dad moved me here....
ryan 14th July 2010	champ, nice try, but China's murder rate is actually very low. The US's, for example is well over double that of China's
Patricia 13th July 2010	I am glad Barbados is not mentioned. I guess the people are either too busy chilling or learning. Where there is high literacy rate there is usually low crime rate and Barbados has a 99.8% literacy rate.
Cautious 11th July 2010	I hope all those that made comments about FIFA hosting the world cup in SA are now eating their words. South Africa hosted a brilliant and safe world cup!
RH 10th July 2010	Pedro Uwadum Glad you didn't visit South Africa. With all the fear mongering that was going on from outside, it wouldn't have been good for the best world cup ever held. The people who made it there enjoyed themselves and made it back to their home country with stories and memories that will be with them forever. Also remember, the 2010 worldcup had the 3rd highest attendance of all worldcups (only Germany in 2006 and US in 1994) did better. Both Germany and US had economically successful population centers in their country and in neighbouring countries. SA achieved its third highest attendance by convincing people from Europe, South America and the rest of the world to attend based on its beauty, hospitality and its ability to have one big jol (party).
paulo 3rd July 2010	crime rate is not only related to finacial reasons, a malaysian person or an indy person from india even poor they are not violente, now an african person or an south american person, hell will break loose. thats the reason i never go there, love to dress the way i want, and no the way the contry want me to be.
Dandelina 26th June 2010	Sharia Law predominantly features in the legal system of Qatar and Saudi Arabia which explains why the crime rate(not only murders) is the lowest in the world. the statistics shows the efficacy of Sharia Law.
Meees 22nd June 2010	The reason why Iraq and Afghanistan aren't on the list is because this list is comprised of countries that are not officially declared war zones. I mean, imagine if they compiled these stats during World War II. Russia would probably have 50-100 per 1000 citizens. Oh, and London/Toronto more make New York look like Disneyland? Hahaha, good one.
Eric 20th June 2010	keep in mind that these are MURDERS not crimes. In China you get the death sentence if you murder someone, and the police have no objections to shooting your ass with AK's and whatnot. Therefore, China is NOT a murderous country. If the government kills someone, it does not qualify as murder. You can argue that the Chinese government is tyrannical, but as far as I'm concerned, these are fairly accurate statistics.
Appu 20th June 2010	What ever the standard may be or the crime rate per country.. just think about this .. the world is losing life's without its natural cause.. this 0.1 in 1000 means .. we lose 600k life out of 6 billion in this world and that is real shame for this modern society in which we live.. As the cultures and our knowledge has grown .. we should respect life..
Lol 16th June 2010	England and canada are very safe compared to the united states.
For Heaven's sake! 15th June 2010	This is for all this people complaining that either their country was included, or "Country X with the really high murder rate wasn't". This is NOT a "top ten" list. They just took 62 countries and ranked them, that's all. And "Max from Canada"– nonsense! The world outside the U.S. is, by and large, a fine place and a safe one. I live there myself.;) What people should be taking away from this is how extremely RARE murder is most places! Generally speaking, human beings are not at all inclined to bump one another off. Any time you feel angsty or cynical or distrustful, you should look up stats like to reassure yourself. It's like I've always said: mostly, people are pretty good. Cheer up. Be happy. Yes, I know this is an unfashionable point view, particularly on the net– but it sure is a much nicer and and healthier one than thinking the world is a terrible place.
zzzzzzz 12th June 2010	wheres guatemala?
California John 11th June 2010	In the US, half the murders are committed by blacks. They make up only 13% of the population. The problem isn't gun ownership. It's who has guns. It's the same all over the world. Wake up!!! It's just reality.
Connor 11th June 2010	When was this last updated? I am doing a project on population density of European countries and how it relates to the murder rate of certain countries for my FST class (Functions, Statistics, and Trigonometry) Just wondering if this is reliable for information
David 10th June 2010	The number for Puerto Rico is 0.224755, that make the island number 5 in this list. Something that doesn't make me proud!! :(
michael 9th June 2010	Turkey is one of the safest countries worldwide. Women can walk the streets even at night time! This is called suicide in Europe for both men and women!
Pleng111 8th June 2010	please...i have been living in south africa my whole life and i havent been robbed, i am not a part of a gang and i dont live in village, with huge security walls. Hamilton...please make sure of such things before you make such rash statements. south africa's crime is not so bad that, we have to take such measures...everything is fine, no segregation of anything...in every country people of the same origin tend to stick together and so is it in South Africa...
Darek 8th June 2010	Why does US-statistics made still the same mistake with Polish murder index ? Poland: 0.0562789 ??? About 700-800 manslaughters on 38 mln people it's about 0.02 not 0.056.
ExtraMedium 7th June 2010	Wikipedia has an updated chart. The global avg. in 2004 (last year with good data globally) was 7.6/100K. Honduras (coup last year) is #1. RSA is #9 and Brazil is #14.
Ahmed 6th June 2010	I am british pakistani and i love uk.i dnt understand why authorties are very silent against asian specially paki gangs in glasgow.They are disgrace for peacefull paki society.
nick 5th June 2010	I have never seen any data to promote the idea that any western European country has a higher per capita murder rate than the US, the closest is portugal, with 9.9/100,000 in lisbon. The worst in Europe is Moscow. I got my other data from BBC, but it seems high for America to be in the high 60's, so here's more. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/nov/24/usa.andrewclark
nick 5th June 2010	@ none of your business i got it from BBC.com but i don't think it's right either. UK is very safe though, and London after more research is about 10.8 Detroit, Cleveland, Oakland, D.C., St. Louis, are in the 40's and 50's per 100,000
Gunnar 30th May 2010	@juran "Where is Sweden? the land with most murders per capita in western Europe?" What? Sweden does not have highest murder rate in Western Europe. We have a murder rate of about 1 per 100.000. Which seems to be about the same as the murder rate in Norway and Denmark.
anmol 27th May 2010	South Africa has an extremely high crime rate and there is no doubt about that. However i must say that both South Africa and Jamaica seem like very interesting places that i would want to go to someday. India is also very dangerous and when i went there four years ago i saw numerous gangsters and murderous villains. Also in India 37000 people were murdered last year at an average of 100 a day.
Elena 25th May 2010	I doubt that Russia is in top 5. Brazil should be there, not Russia. I've spent 25 years in Russia and nothing happened to me. Now I'm in Brazil and I'm really tired of watching criminal news(here are no other news than criminal). Yesterday two houses on the street where I live were robbed, and in the bus I use almost every day, all passengers had to say bye to their belongings.
Fufel 25th May 2010	The worlds lowest murder rate probably belongs to Turkmenistan. Only 2 murders in 2009 (unofficially)
Geo D 24th May 2010	Please pray for Jamaica you all! we have one of the most beautiful island in the world, with some beautiful and gifted people, but a few bad apples trying to spoil the basket....
Geo D 24th May 2010	Please pray for Jamaica you all! we have one of the most beautiful island oin the world, with some beautiful and gifted people, but a few bad apples trying to spoil the basket....
P McKann 22nd May 2010	@TM: Correlation is not causation, but you may look for a link between melatonin levels and propensity for murder.
Kevin 19th May 2010	There seems to be a lot of politically motivated responses here regarding South Africa! Unfortunately we are still plagued by old Apartheid thinking in SA. The majority of us don't live in fear as some seem to suggest!
JohnHamilton 17th May 2010	The South African Police is responsible for the crime statistics in South Africa. They doctor the statistics to spare the ANC government embarrassment. We live in fear. Some of my family members had been murdered
B.A.T.A. Green 17th May 2010	Who is Johan Burger, perhaps he is from another planet because he is not reporting on South Africa found on Planet Earth. I lived in South Africa for 20 years and I am witness to the horrendous crimes that are happening there all the time. Several family members were seriously injured when their house was broken into and the criminals started shooting indiscriminately. They survived and 2 of them are now practicing medical doctors in London. My young wife was robbed twice. Our own house had been broken into 4 times. My car was stolen. I am scared of the police who have a reputation of bullying victims of crime. An older cousin of mine was shot dead. Then there is the victimization of light skinned people. The ANC is still sanctioning their youth leader Julius Malema who is prompting the masses to kill whites. This let to a 1 year old (white) girl being nearly beaten to death by 2 black bodybuilders. She is still on life support. So, I think the media has so far been very kind when reporting about South Africa. However, sooner or later, the world will hear the truth.
SURIYA 11th May 2010	WHERE IS SRILANKA IN THE LIST? OWING GENOCIDE OF TAMILS,THEY MUST BE THE NUMBER ONE IN THE LIST.
sham 11th May 2010	omg so many deaths i dnt understand y peolpe killl ppl for no reason it is very wrng
Forge 10th May 2010	Nando. Funny thing about guns. Check the list of countries by gun ownership and the list of countries by murder rate. South Africa is the only nation in the top 20 of both lists. Which makes sense when you realize that South Africa is two different countries, just trying to integrate itself. (The white section has many guns and little crime, the black section has few guns and lots of crime).
None of your business. 9th May 2010	@nick Where did you get that from? The UK has the highest murder rate, BY FAR.
Russell 8th May 2010	SA stats aren't close to right. The police and government don't really like to reveal the real crime stats, and in fact regularly fail to do proper paperwork on any crime most especially including murder. Just last year they classified a farmer who had been shot several times by his workers as "accidental death", and several more reports similar to this one appeared at that time and were then quickly hushed-up again. You're in danger here every moment of every day.
nick 30th April 2010	Of all First world Countries, Russia is the highest. Then usually America. However Washington D.C's Murder rate is about 69.3 / 100,000. And Moscow's is about 18.77 / 100,000. Some eastern european countries are high. Portugal is the highest in Western Europe. U.k, Italy, Spain, Germany, and France are the lowest. South America, Africa, Middle East are highest.
Jessy 29th April 2010	wheres iraq?
omer pakistan 29th April 2010	what is the standingof pakistan in it there is no name of pakistan in this list
Confused 28th April 2010	Even if Iraq was listed wouldn't all of the murders in Iraq be US murders???
Keltria 19th April 2010	No the animals are not safe in the Parks in SA. They are being slaughtered too. I live in SA, and NOTHING is safe at the moment.
Jason (Canada) 18th April 2010	Just a very short response- I don't understand why/how so many of you are arguing about who has a higher murder rate. That's very disturbing. And for those who made comments about some rates not being accurate- a few of you failed to read that the stats were PER 1000 not 100000 which you likely misunderstood.
juanso 15th April 2010	wow unbelieable Puertorico should be some where on this list. have the highest crime rate in the carrbiean and close second to jamaica. and with some of the powerfull drug king pins around in all the carrbiean and latin america and the world. help rise the crime rate in this little island.
juanso 15th April 2010	wow puertorico should no question be on that list puertorico has the highest crime rate in the carrbiean and close second in murders to jamaica. the biggest drug king pins in the carrbiean and latin america are in puertorico. which has lead to an even higher crime rate. true facts.
JR. 13th April 2010	The most interesting fact on this statistic is not who is in it or not. It's a sample what happens in society. Political corruption leads people to criminality and a total chaos. It leads populations to starvation,etc."- One who is by nature daring and is suffering from poverty will not long be law-abiding." — Confucius (c. 551-c. 479 BC). Have a nice day everyone.
ian the great 13th April 2010	i am doing a research paper on the death penalty and all of the top list does not have it. go figure
mufanadzo TC (south africa) 12th April 2010	wow in south africa crime was decreasing effectively but 2009 statistics shows that it had increased. maybe the dearminisation will help as un lisenced weapons will be decreased. it must be a safe place to live. i love my country.
Jimmy 7th April 2010	Scotland (UK) has possibly the worst murder and crime rates in the world.
juran 3rd April 2010	Where is Sweden? the land with most murders per capita in western Europe?
Jason Brissett 22nd March 2010	JAMAICA is still the most beautifull country in the world, and it has the best foods. No matter what the crime rate is JAMAICA is still a god bless nation becasue our students are leaving to go abroad to study and we have the fastest men and women alive thanks to JESUS CHRIST. WE have the most beautiful beaches and hotels and with God in our vessel we can smile at every storm.
Oscar 10th March 2010	You've gotta be kidding? Where is El Salvador? there's a lot of mareros who are always killing each other and it appears as if they rule the entire country. Can't believe they're not on the list
chia 7th March 2010	I'm not surprised that South Africa is #2. No matter what they'd like you to believe, So. Africa is NOT a first world country nor a safe place to live- which explains why many of their younger residents are leaving the country!!
awie boy 2nd March 2010	Israel is the place where beginning of Zionist rite... isn't so, where is Israel??? I think Israel is on the top 5.
EMRAH 27th February 2010	ROSEMARY Istanbul has a lot of criminal issues in it. other cities are all usually safe
Mike 25th February 2010	@Mark (johannesburg south africa): your explanation that it is foreigners committing the crimes is only partially satisfying. For instance, if the foreigners were so violent, we would expect their own countries to have higher rates of murder than South Africa. This is not the case (for example, Zimbabwe is much further down the list), so there must be a more subtle explanation.
David Merrett 22nd February 2010	Found this quite useful as i'm doing an essay on Japanese crime rate. is there any better/ more recent data i could be pointed to?
Trini to the bone 17th February 2010	Where is Trinidad? I know that our country has increased in crime - murders to be specific. I'd like to know where on the list we fit in. I live outside of Trinidad and would love to go back home to live, but keep reading about the increase in crime especially killings.
Idan 15th February 2010	Julia - what makes you think Israel has a high rate of murders? FYI it is one the lowest in the world, as opposed to the impression TV news create for you. Israeli cities are much safer (statistically) than most big cities in the States and Europe.
julia 14th February 2010	Where is Israel???
Uzoma+Kelvin+Chibuzo 3rd February 2010	STOP this killing every body in every conutry, let make this world a better place in the Name of JESUS Christ the Son of God
Uzoma Kelvin Chibuzo, From Nigeria 3rd February 2010	It is true that crime statistic rapidly arising, but i want to shout nit out loud "we must preserve this precious generation from thie evil activities, without allowing Christ to control our lives, the most populated contry like China, idia can be destroyed in a day. plz ledies and Gentle men together we can forcefully and aggrissivelly STOP this crime by multiplying in our contries.
rey 00731 3rd February 2010	please where is puerto rico on this list believe me i live in pr and its gotta be easily on the top 10
Mark (johannesburg south africa) 31st January 2010	South Africa is second on the list because most of the crime ie committed by people from orther African States.
Wassaf 26th January 2010	@Naser Iraq was civilized because it was ruled by a dictator who was a mass murderer and master executioner, I guess living in fear=civilized, well...in YOUR part of the world maybe. Iraq could have been a wonderful country after its liberation if not for the Muslim terror. But you are somewhat right - they should have gone after Iran first.
Reinaldo+Mendez 17th January 2010	Venezuela has an average of 160 per 100,000 people http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4480
Reinaldo Mendez 17th January 2010	VENEZUELA has the Higher Rates Venezuela from 1980 to 1999 Venezuela had a Average of 92 dead people per WEEK!!!.....from 1999 to 2009 (Chavez presidency) Venezuela has an Average of 259 killed persons per WEEK!!.... Venezuela has 259 Killed persons per WEEK....and just by common delinquency!!
musa 15th January 2010	the united states still is by far the most dangerous 1st world country without a doubt. the european countrys dont even come close. if u ask me id say mexico colombia brazil south africa have the highest crime rates. in america detroit and new orleans murder rates are higher then any city in europe by far
Zakariah 7th January 2010	Why is Morocco not on the list. Try and discover how many immigrants from Sub saharan, Algeria, and Asian citizens are killed secretly everyday.
SUM THE GUM 7th January 2010	are iraq china and iran on here??
Creo 5th January 2010	Easy, El Salvador is third in Latin America, the rank is: 1. Colomibia 2. Venezuela 3. El Salvador Maybe no data avalible?
sandra 23rd December 2009	Where is Puerto Rico? During the 1990's it was the third country in all of the lists with a 40.0 behind Colombia and El Salvador, during the early 2000's it was in the top 15 and now it is nowhere to be found but the rate is now higher than ever in it's entire history.
sandra 23rd December 2009	Where is Puerto Rico? In the 1990's it was the third country in most of the per capita lists, in the early 2000's it was in the top 15 but in this current list it is nowhere to be found and crime is now higher than ever in that self governing island.
Livardo 20th December 2009	Wikipedia says El Salvador has a 48/100,000 intentional homicide rate placing them at #4. I don't understand how Costa Rica, with one of the lowest crime rates in LatAm makes it here but not El Salvador.
Tom D. Pinta 19th December 2009	You are doing a great job collecting and releasing these statistics. Keep on doing the good thing.
Dodorobe (Indonesia) 10th December 2009	Indonesia.. Its the most diversity country on earth, with its 17thousands islands speard between 2 continents and two oceans how could it have so low murders/capita? Do you know why? coz there still a lots of good people there who live in harmony. I wonder why there is always a warning to visit this country!
L. Aguilar 8th December 2009	Colombia is number one?.I live here and I know first hand that the drug "turf' wars are what makes this country number one. There is a lot of crime here and the people have a deep mistrust mentality, but overall, the country is changing, reforming most laws and taking anti-corruption measures.I am surprised that Mexico is not number one because of the mass killing in the drug trade. No country should be proud to be on this list,because one of God's commandments is: "Though shall not kill".
jamaican loyalist 8th December 2009	I'm looking at this thing for the first time and to the outsider it would look bad, but being a Jamaican National, I wouldn't give up my little island for any of the so-called crime free countries that exist.
Dino (Canada) 5th December 2009	I am just glad that I live in the best country in the world. The rest of you could only be so lucky.
From russia 3rd December 2009	In Russia there is some cities where murder rate is more than 200/100000. You wont find this kind of numbers in any of American city.
Will 28th November 2009	Haha, this is nothing, South Africa is nr 2, but South Africa is 11 diffrent nations, if you only take the ''Boer People''(Afrikaans(dutch) white people) the number will be more than 2.506008 per 1000 people, its called a secret ''genocide '' coz the whole number is calculated in the intire murder rate of the whole country.
Halina 21st November 2009	What’s wrong with Poland? The ARITHMETICAL MISTAKE! If you take your number of murders in Poland and divide it by the actual population of Poland, the rate per 1000 is: 0.0188, which makes it half the rate of the US and close to countries comparable to Poland, like Hungary or Czech Republic, and not much different from France.
AK 19th November 2009	Where is Albania ? It has 3 million inhabitants with a crime rate of 12 murders/ 1000 people. Everyday 5 to 6 people get killed there in that tiny country !
T 18th November 2009	According to this list ( http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/7950/54 ) brazil should be with their 2 major cities in the top 3... But this list is regarding countries so it could be correct...
imani 13th November 2009	It is the people why jamaica is like this. They should introduce the law called an eye for an eye, and see if we dont get results.
imani 13th November 2009	It is the people why crime rate is so high in Jamaica. I strongly think we should use the system called an eye for an eye. Then result will come
Homosapiens 2nd November 2009	A couple people mentioned Puerto Rico. The local newspaper reports that by the first of November, there had been 752 murders this year (2009). Extrapolate the 10 month total for 12 months and you'd have 906 murders this year for a population of 3,958,128 (2008 Wikipedia estimate). That should give you a murder rate of about 23/100,000 or 0.23/1000 for this year. Quite high. Living here, I do feel like I'm in a more violent, out of control place. I have no idea why Brazil isn't on the list, but it comes in with the top 5 or 10 every year, so just assume it's still mixed in there this year too.
Bette Davis 2nd November 2009	guys try to understand, if a nation is not on the list that means simply that there is not data on that nation, nothing else !
Elias 27th October 2009	People, there is difference between crime statistics and actual, documented and reported deaths caused by murder.
Magnus (El Salvador) 26th October 2009	Where is El Salvador in the list? With 12 murders every day and a population of under 6 millions, the country chould top the list...
american+hero 25th October 2009	the top 10 countries with the lowest murder rates are countries that ban gun ownership. Guns don't kill people, people kill people? Then why can't americans buy grenades or RPGs? RPGs don't kill people, people kill people right?
american hero 25th October 2009	the top 10 countries with the lowest murder per capita are countries that ban gun ownership! Guns don't kill people, people kill people? So why can't we americans buy grenades, RPGs then? RPGs don't kill people, people kill people.
angelo 21st October 2009	Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the USA, meaning that PR likes the benefits of being US citizen but not the responsabilities thats what they call being "BORICUA"
And123 20th October 2009	and don't forget that half of the US murders are by psychos that kill their own family and then commit suicide, the next 25 percent are by suicides and the rest are killed by the police......
jacob 17th October 2009	JAMAICA is still the most beautifull country in the world, and it has the best foods. No matter what the crime rate is JAMAICA is still a god bless nation becasue our students are leaving to go abroad to study and we have the fastest men and women alive thanks to JESUS CHRIST. WE have the most beautiful beaches and hotels and with God in our vessel we can smile at every storm. Love From Jamaica to you all.
RR 14th October 2009	Nice but as indicated, "Crime statistics are often better indicators of prevalence of law enforcement and willingness to report crime, than actual prevalence." Some are not as safe as they seem on paper.
ROGERS 12th October 2009	More people die in South Africa EVERY day,than people died in the war in IRAQ per day. TOURISTS get mugged raped, killed and assaulted for cellphones jewelry small amounts of money etc.locals know that after dark its best to stay indoors.FARMERS are tortured in the most gruesome ways and then killed.on saturday 10 oct 2009 an armoured vehicle was robbed, as are many.for details go to the daily sun of mon 12 oct 2009.if you want to come to South Africa,make sure you come with plenty of body guards or at least make sure, your will is in order
??? 11th October 2009	i would have tought that there would be a humugous difference beween germany and england...
Jan 11th October 2009	Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the USA and not it's own country anymore. Their statistics will be lumped in with the US.
Nancy t. 10th October 2009	Whoever asked about Puerto Rico - it is likely that PR statistics are wrapped in U.S. numbers, since they come under Federal jurisdiction for many types of investigations.
DianaB 6th October 2009	One of the things everyone must remember...anything can be proven statistically if you look hard enough. If someone is trying to prove a point they can always find statistics to back it up... you should always question the sources. For instance on the news in the US they are saying Rio De Janiero, Brazil has the highest crime rate in the world...now if that was true why would the IOC select to have the Olympics there. Yeah...let's have the Olympics in the city with the highest crime rate...right...I smell propoganda....
Jv 3rd October 2009	I thought mexico was the #1 on murders???
Julie 2nd October 2009	Don't forget all those "suicides" in Japan... you know, the ones where someone commits suicide by shooting themselves first, then hanging upside down on a fence.
Abel T. Tamba (Liberia) 1st October 2009	First of all,let me commend you for this informative work. What ranking is Guinea?
14 30th September 2009	i live in sa and our country has terriable crime i am 14 and it scary to walk home our country need something bad we need the death peanalty
alan 27th September 2009	What ranking is Iraq. How reliable is this ?
Sherpaboy - USA 25th September 2009	What constitutes Homicide? Do we include the number of folks killed by Governments?
ypt politics 25th September 2009	have a look at port glasgow in scotland in the UK, there are more murders in one town, the population is only 3000
none 24th September 2009	how come lik noooooo one gets killed in Qatar lik what even is that
varsity 24th September 2009	where's China?
blh 22nd September 2009	It would be interesting to bring all these stats on the number of inhabitants per km ². For example, Japan h 337.8 km ² and France 96.3 h / km ², or 3.5 times more while the number of crimes was 3.5 times higher in France ...
ROSEMARY 18th September 2009	WHY IS TURKEY NOT INCLUDED IN THIS LIST? DON'T THEY PROVIDE INFO? CRIME AND VIOLENT CRIME IS VERY HIGH IN TURKEY
cliff j 15th September 2009	True ...Guns don't kill people...People WITH guns kill people.
dsa 14th September 2009	why does South Africa have a negitive picture to the rest of the world?Crime is seriouse in this country,Aids is seriouse in this country Swine flue seemed to be more seriouse in this country .why? Our government must put it's act togather crime affects us all .I'm really disappointed in this country.
BARRY 12th September 2009	to my left leaning friends who insist how much better scandinavian /north europe socialistic societies are- did you know that finland allows it's civilians to own machineguns? every swiss male is sent home with an assault rifle after basic training. two common denominators: ethic non diversity and firearms safety education.
ST 10th September 2009	There are probably far more dangerous places than those on this list. The real dangerous places are too bad to go around counting the murders.
Michael Crean 6th September 2009	For Katoch 19/9/09, since when has America been a country ? As for crime ( murder )the only way to keep the numbers down (as we will never prevent it), is "an eye for a eye". How many people are killed by re-offending murderers ?
MPA 5th September 2009	Why is it per 1,000? The standard is per 100,000.
JJ 2nd September 2009	Guns are not the issue. It is illegal to own a gun in almost every country in the top 10. Contrary - most Swiss males have guns (military assault weapons) - but don't kill people with them. And yes poverty is likely the problem, but there is almost no poverty in the US ("poor" people have cars, cell phones, nice clothes, eat out often, and are mostly overweight), so likely greed is a better answer.
krusher 31st August 2009	I want to know and cant find the exact stat on how many murders have taken place, and where Dayton Ohio ranks in the murders per capita, over the last several years or any given yr. This year alone we have had close to 450, 11 of which have happened in the last 2 weeks
Abe Bird 25th August 2009	Why not putting the whole cuontries into the list?
Al 24th August 2009	First off, Sid, you are mistaken about our immigrants. People from developed nations do come here but we limit legal immigration to a small amount, courtesy of liberals in Congress. Take off the limits and you would see a huge rise in legal immigration to the US. Liberal guilt, people like Ted Kennedy (the legislation's author), put a limits on legal immigration. People also come from many nations for a post-grad and under-grad education in the US, despite your national self-deprecation, again typical of liberals. The universities and colleges are generally considered the best in the world, which is why many people try and a large percentage do get access to our education system. So, sorry, wrong again. People come here also trying to advance their financial circumstances. One still has a chance to move ahead in this country, unlike the virtual cast systems that exist invisibly in other nations. So spare us the mostly liberal BS.
Scott (Australia) 20th August 2009	looks as though USA's murder rate is about 4 times that of Australia. I wonder if the Saudi figure includes public executions? (they have many)
Alexandra 14th August 2009	Guns don't kill people. People kill people.
alex 8th August 2009	i think jamaica should be number one in the world the killin that going on
Mexicanchencho 7th August 2009	Where is belgium???
Bobby in U.S. 1st August 2009	You all are misinformed about us and our guns. we don't buy them to feel safe from criminals. we know the risks of gun ownership and the greater risk to our children. That is just the argument for keeping our guns. We make that argument all the time to the real reason we want to keep our guns. Our Government. A lot of us don't trust them any more than some of you.
jon 27th July 2009	this doesnt make sense? where is Brazil. Elsalvador, and Nigeria
Niemann 17th July 2009	Actual rate (2008) in Colombia is 0.316 per 1,000 people. See: http://www.medicinalegal.gov.co/drip/2008/2%20Forensis%202008%20homicidios.pdf (in Spanish)
Trev 14th July 2009	Please adjust South Africa. The murder rate is now 38/100 000. http://www.saps.gov.za/statistics/reports/crimestats/2008/march_april_2001_2008/catagory/murder.pdf
Steve 11th July 2009	To Max of Canada,while I see your point the news is available in the US but, most people are limited to TV news,4th rate newspapers, if they read one at all, and could care less. If you want to find the news you can it is there.
Scott S (USA) July 2009 10th July 2009	Thomas L, The U.S. has killed,on our shores, well over 51,000,000 people since 1973 at the hands of abortionists. Most that feel ok with this are also anti gun owner.Figure that. Maria, Mant Americans can no longer speak english!Try not to put too much pressure on us, But......... If I live in America,why should I be expected to learn another language ? If you wish to be a part of this culture, learn the language. If I move to Madrid, should I expect everyone to change to suit my needs ? Certainly not. One doesnt have to look far to see the crime rates soaring after nationalized gun registration/confiscation. England,Austrailia to name two. Criminals will find a way to commit crimes. Thats what they do. Would I rather be thrown from a 12 story building instead of being shot ? Probably not.
freewheeler 8th July 2009	saudi arabia is the second safest country in the world......you can own a machine gun in saudi arabia....so guns have nothing to do with murder....you can murder with a screwdriver.....BUT....you commit murder in suadi arabia ....YOU WILL DIE!!...guarenteed!
kbec 5th July 2009	It is interesting to note that this crime rate is for Homicides where the person was actually killed - Not attempted homicides where the person survived (probably classified as assault with a deadly weapon, wounding etc). Therefore countries with better medical facilities like say USA may have more violent crime than say Colombia (just an example to illustrate my point - please don't jump on me I know it's not true!) but the chances of surviving a gunshot are much much higher there to thus avoid this being a homicide. Another good example is the horrendous knife crime in England. There are daily stabbings where most people survive. There are daily shootings in other countries like South Africa where people usually don't.
Anonymous 4th July 2009	Everyone talks about banning guns. Why don't they suggest we ban murder?
CB (Germany) 2nd July 2009	The Taliban and Al Qaeda behead, stone and blow up people...not a gun in sight. They and many people who possess guns use them as an extension of thier manhood and to display their inability for compromise. Objects do not kill people...people kill people.
Jesper 2nd July 2009	I am living in Sweden but are kids not afraid if they play on the street or go to school on their bike in the USA ?
Ludwe M (South africa) 21st June 2009	Im a south african teenager and do not believe that crime is that worse in my country. Ther is crime in SA but its normal just like any other country.
Triple Sec 18th June 2009	Not a very intelligent comment, Michael in LH. The fact is unless you have a prior "history", there is no telling who is purchasing a firearm. Even if you do have a prior "history", it doesn't mean good checks (within 10 days) are run on people purchasing firearms. Do you think every loony and crazy has been identified prior to them purchasing a firearm? The fact remains that the easier a gun is obtained by anyone, the higher murder rate GENERALLY is. Compare the U.S. to Europe. Game, Set, Match!
Daniel Antonio 7th June 2009	How do you know weather widespread gun ownership causes more crime than prevents it? Gun ownership may not be an issue in Spain but it's worth considering it in Mexico since right now only criminals have access to it.
Nando 5th June 2009	It is funny to hear people asking for guns in US to defend and to feel "safe" and then see this statistics and see how good countries with and without guns do. Keep asking for guns americans, you will never know what peace is.
Wealth distribution 19th May 2009	I saw someone blaming wealth distribution in South Africa. That's hardly the case. The scandinavian countries are famous for their wealth distribution, and are all at the bottom of the statistics. Crime is mainly caused by poverty. Wealth distribution done right, prevents poverty, thus preventing crime. Poverty makes people desperate, causing crime.
diedre ( u.s.a ) - brooklyn , new york 11th May 2009	wow all i have to say is i dont think all this crime should have to go on . Especially Jamaica i mean like my whole fmaily is from there
Liviana M USA 13th April 2009	There are people that are going to cover up, say it isn't true, candy-coat everything, say they look substantially better and whatnot. This should help us understand and analyze, but we need to get ascertain the facts and not jump to conclusions on these statistics lest we have a smear campaign over culture.
Jan Wiklund 11th April 2009	I looked for Sweden's figures but didn't find any. And as Swedish statistics are usually good, so why? I also compared these figures with those at wikipedia, and didn't find any resemblance at all. Britain's figures were for example the double at wikipedia. So i suppose murder for you is one thing and murder for wikipedia someting quite different. Could somebodu clear up this for me?
Alex (UK) 10th April 2009	the definition is not good: murders per capita, but over which time? murders per capita and per year?
james (scotland ) 30th March 2009	There are actually countries in europe that have higher murder rates than america. for example Russia, Urkaine, Estonia, Lativia and Moldova which shows that america is safe compared to alot of the world.
Andrew (Philippines) 28th March 2009	Graham, let the statistics speak for themselves. These stats cover the period 1998-2000. Judging from these Stats alone one has a higher likelihood of being murdered in Thailand, United States, Canada and Australia. I wonder why tourists are so concerned about their safety when visiting our country. Lol. I guess now everybody here knows better. You can single out the Philippines and put it in a bad light but if you're going to put everything in its proper perspective we'll just have to wait for more recent data for all the countries so we can see a better overall picture. Oh, and BTW you have to learn to divide that figure by 86,241 to arrive at the per capita figure for 2004 assuming your figures are correct and even then that would only put the Philippines in the middle of the pack just above US figures and certainly not the worst. But, that's assuming that 2004 figures for the rest of the world did not worsen in relation to ours which is a far off possibility in this day and age considering the worsening economic crisis in the US, Europe and the rest of the more affluent countries.
John (Washington DC) 26th March 2009	Notice the rate of murder in Islamic countries is substatnially subordinate to that of the so called civilized Western countries.
JAS (Los Angeles ) 26th March 2009	Use the arrow adjacent to Murders per capita* and select Murders committed by youth per capita* "Youth" is defined as "Homicide rate per 100,000 population aged 10–29 years." The existence of drug cartels and youth gangs within countries clearly affects crime statistics. Assuming that "Murders per capita" references a whole population including children, there are also large variations in percents of adults, youths, and children in country populations. See: CIA Factbook for percent age differences within populations. Children are frequently victims whereas youths and adults are the perpetrators of criminal activities. The larger the percent of children within any population the greater the personal responsibility of those related youths and adults--yet everywhere we see the few wreak havoc on the many. And somehow a much smaller percent of adults within some populations does not necessarily statistically lead to less but instead to more criminal activity, as well as statistically to more children as victims of adult activities.
Sten Fergsen (Florida USA) 24th March 2009	It would be of interest to see the table of executions per thousand of capita juxtaposed next to those of murder rates per thousands of capita. I notice from the limited statistics I have access to that China which boasts the highest rates of executions along with Iran and Saudi Arabia are not on this list of high murder rate countries. Mmmm.
MMMMMM (Philippines) 20th March 2009	I don't believe this list. Japan and Hong Kong are on the list, but not Philippines??? Here, we don't go out at night as much as we can because its dangerous. There are lots of snatchers, killers etc, so where's the Philippines on the list? Another thing, why is Saudi included? Actually, I am sure the crime rate there is very low... How weird!!!
Kissyface (US) 7th March 2009	This is in regards to Jamaica being ranked as # 3...Yes I am Jamaican, and No my comment is not biased! But seriously I just cant believe the statistics that we are number 3, I mean the amount of murder committed in Jamaica per year is committed in the average city and higher in states within the US... this ranking is a gross exaggeration of the actual crime stats in a country
Jack Clark (California, USA) 27th February 2009	Don't countries with genocides make this list? In what year was Rwanda high on this list, for example?
Michael Widlanski (Jerusalem, Israel) 26th February 2009	For those concerned about Israel's place in all this: The Israeli police this week announced 186 people were murdered in Israel last year. That is an increase of four over the previous year, though other violent crime declined. As a percentage of the population of seven million people that comes to approximately0.00002657142. This is the lowest number on your list, which probably goes to show that--despite all the wars--Israel is still a pretty safe place to live. Thank God. Michael Widlanski, research fellow, Shalem Center, Jerusalem, lecturer, Hebrew University, Rothberg School.
Heheh (London) 16th January 2009	South Africa's Interpol statistics are the same as the police. The difference is they've bunched attempted murders on top (don't ask me why that is) which is why they look double in some press releases. RSA's rate is down to 38 per 100,000 now. Stay away from any alarmist or racist websites concerning South Africa, they're liars. Venezuela is now the world's murder capital.
tony (Southport England) (Southport England) 9th January 2009	Alot of peole think they are ded hard because they have the highest murder rate. Apperently Southport England has some of the best fighters per square mile than any other in the southern hemisphere. One of my best friends hold a brown belt in karate
Abdehadi (Canada) 9th January 2009	I think South Africa has the highest Murder rates. According to Interpol, South Africa's Murder rates are actually double what the post apartide government is releasing b/c one factor being its boom travel industry. So South Africa should be number one because Columbia is in a war. South Africa is not in a war.
Paul Ley (uk/US) 5th January 2009	These statistics are compiled from data given to the UN, we have to differentiate here, homicide a human death, is split between lawful and unlawful. In many countries unlawful deaths are unrecognized as 'Murders" eg. female births, widow killings, homosexual killings, killing of disabled babies etc.. so the do not feature in these numbers, if you read Time or National Geographic you will know some of these. Then in the western world unlawful deaths on the face of things are murders are pleaded down to simple unlawful assaults or DUI and also do not appear in these numbers. I have traveled worldwide and they seem pretty near the mark.Please note the size of the country makes no difference statistically, but culture does but gun ownership does not e.g Canada v USA v Russia
RH PCKETT (USA) 1st January 2009	I would have liked to have seen SWEDEN included on the list; maybe they had no murders at all. Seriously, I see that some viewers found it necessary to make excuses for our [USA] lofty ranking. It is the inner-city murders, by citizens, not illegal immigrants, that bloats our numbers.
Sam West (South Africa) 21st December 2008	South Africa is definately top of the list. You cant even go to the beach anymore without your car getting broken into, getting mugged on the beach and worse being murdered for your watch and cell phone.
miha (slovenia) 12th December 2008	well this datas are very wrong or incorrect in slovenia in last 18 years 504 ppl died that's average of 28 a year not 36! for the last 4 years only 15 died a year that's 0.075... most murders are committed in family or by foreigners and its stupid when i hear some western or American ppl saying stereotypical ideas of eastern Europe slovenia czecz r Hungary were part of eastern Europe but the average is almost the same 0.14 or 0.075 15 ppl dead a year that's nothing. t
AB (Norway) 10th December 2008	Jeff from Maryland: If you think this message board is bad, just sift through the endless waste of commentary on you tube posts. After reading the hogwash people come up with there, it's embarrassing to be know I belong the same species
amando (Houston,tx) 28th November 2008	Iraq actually has a lower crime rate the the U.S. statistically but that's because its a war zone.(they don't count war as crime) the death rate is extremely high though. the thing is that the U.S. also had a higher death rate before the war.
Neil (Dublin) 25th November 2008	Ironically, only countries that have enough basic law and order to compile crime statistics make this list. Failed states don't seem to be represented at all here. Does anyone really think the United States has a higher murder rate than Burma or the Democratic Republic of Congo?
socrates (zimbabwe and SA border) 25th November 2008	Zimbabwe is one of the safest countries in the world, that crime rate was probably escalated by the elections -just a few spurts of violence, otherwise we do not even deserve to be number fifteen, probably we should not even be in the top 50. But as for SA, surely they should even be number one in the world, everyday i am in SA i witness a murder.
SaQuane Milton ((USA/Jamaica)) 17th November 2008	Jamaica is still at number three, we seriously need to stop killing each other over stupid things and get our act together. I feel that the only reason why it is so high is because it is an island, and the population is not as great as the United States or other big countries.
IMRAN (PAKISTAN) 17th November 2008	WHAT IS PAK RANKING?
Tim (Poland) 10th November 2008	There is very useful information given in the 'definition' See the link on the line below the main title of "Crime Statistics > Murders (per capita) (most recent) by country" which many people appear not to have read before commenting. I would suggest to nationmaster that they put this info on the page above the statistics, as it is essential reading for visitors to be able to interpret the data reasonably, and to understand the known limitations of the data in particular.
Randy (Missouri, USA) 27th September 2008	I have to chuckle at the logic used when it comes to people saying "We need tougher gun laws!" The people using the gun to commit murder don't give a rat's fart about the laws to begin with, so what on earth makes you believe they would acquire the gun through legal means? They are contemplating murder, do you think they have the legality of the gun on their minds? And if it wasn't a gun, it would be a knife, baseball bat, lead pipe, or anything else that would do the job. Should these potential murder weapons be controlled and regulated also? We have some of the most stringent drug laws in the world. Using your logic, that should mean we shouldn't have a drug problem in this country, right? Prohibition doesn't work, that was well-proven in the 1930s. It didn't work with alcohol, it hasn't worked with the drug problem, and it sure as hell won't work with firearms. I suppose that, if the gun is the cause of the murder, then the pencil is the cause of the misspelled word, and the fork made Michael Moore overweight.
G W Wilson (Sonora Mexico) 25th September 2008	UN Statistics. Now that says it all doesn't it people... I don't know where they got Mexico's numbers but I can tell you that this country is more violent than Iraq. There is complete gun control in Mexico and it is the most violent place on earth besides some war zones. That says a lot for gun control. Australia had guns and as soon as they put there gun control in there crime went up. way up... In the United States the police will tell you we are not here to prevent crime we just make the reports and investigate. Why is it that most of the countrys in the world that have no gun rights are some of the highest places for violent crime.
Craig Dennis (Washington DC) 23rd September 2008	This conversation has long ago become ridiculous. Please read the notations about the statistics, namely that information is only made available for countries that submitted data for that year. Secondly, for all the US posters who make definitive comments about the reasons for US crime, you could at least look at your OWN FBI statistics to see what are the stated causes for most crime. Most murder in the US is NOT domestic. While much of the murder is connected to immigrant gangs, it is certainly not MOST of the murder. It contributes to the high rate however. Outside of cities, the murder rate is ridiculously low in most communities. And yes, most murder occurs in places with high population density. We have a lot of major cities, more than practically any other country, and this boosts our murder rate. If you don't know about a country from what you have actually studied, you should refrain from comment. The United States has a murder problem, but is not significantly more violent than the more major cities in Europe. Even in the cities the violent crime is concentrated to certain areas (especially in cities like Washington DC or New York) Please be level headed ladies and gentlemen.
Lisa Gonzales (New York City) 19th September 2008	The statistics for Colombia are completely off. Colombia has made great strides in improving the security situation and economic outlook. The murder rate for Colombia is now closer to what Wilson Barón Calderón reported. It's very irresponsible and misleading for website like nationmaster to be posting inacurate information.
Limah (USA) 12th September 2008	The western countries tend to have a higher crime rate than the third world countries. I wonder why that is...,considering "western" is synonymous with "civilized." Ha! Funny!
Ken (Canada) 10th September 2008	Definitely all wrong Look at the source. Only up to 2000. Colombia has gone down to 36 per 100,000, Jamaica up t0 59, Venezuela up to 46,T&T is 33, Guatemala 49, Honduras, El Salvador over 50. South Africa gone up to. Zimabawe over 100.
J J (texas) 27th August 2008	I have traveled over most of the Northern hemishere, often into places that had a bad reputation and am fairly sure that the national homicide statistics are misleading. i.e. The UK with a pop. of circa 60 million has about 700 homicides a year. I live in Houston, with a greater urban population of >2 million and about 350 murders a year. I remember in the mid eighties when there were two murders in one week in Switzerland and it made the Houston papers as "The End of Swiss Civilization", ignoring the local average of two a day at that time. In many countries most violent crime is specific to a particular location or segment of the populace and offers little danger to people who avoid the trouble spots.
Chris Bellis (UK) 23rd August 2008	The comments about the USA are inaccurate. In the vast majority of the US (by geography) there is nowhere safer. This is because they have sensible gun laws, unlike here in the UK, where only criminals are allowed to use guns. Those citizens who use guns to defend themselves will receive harsher punishments than the criminals. Here there is a complete correlation between areas whose demography reflects West Indian heritage and high gun crime. Why is this surprising when you look at the murder rates in the countries whose cultures these people aspire to reflect?
Ollie (Australia) 18th August 2008	Guns don't kill people. People kill people, but it helps not to be giving Machine guns out to everyone for 'hunting'. I think oz is fine without semi-automatics. I thought Australia would be lower than the UK, to be honest, I just thought the assault rate would be high, because of the drunken violence. I'm surprised Oz Ranks above the UK - are places like Northern Ireland and Scotland included? I'm sure they'd tip the balance between England (minus London!) more than the Northern Territory and the rest of Australia?
Tales de Oliveira (Brazil) 15th August 2008	It's absurd that Brazil is not on this list. You should not "forget" a country that has 190 million inhabitants and more than 30 thousand violent deaths per year. It is one of the most violent countries in the World. I feel obliged to consider this list as not credible. You might as well be lying to people. Bad job!
dave hedgehog (Londen) 10th August 2008	Bogota had 670 murders in H1'08, that's about 1340 per year for a population of 8m... about 16 per 1000...Colombia should be 6th place I would think. these numbers are way out of date
Syed Shamsuddoha (Wellington, New Zealand) 1st August 2008	United States is a great country and I certainly love the openness and freedom of speech in the country. But still I believe the crime rate is extremely high in the United States. It might not be within the top 5 or so, but certainly it's one of the top 10 in the world (well my guess only and I have no data to substantiated against). I lived there many years and I know things have changed since then. But during my stay in NYC between 1990 and 1992 I was robbed 8 times and the robbers used guns to rob me. During that time there were a lot of crimes in the US. It's hard for me to think that the US has overcome all those issues so fast. I think the statistics is wrong and needs to be substantiated against a standardized statistics that's being used to get data from other countries. Cheers. S
Paul (United Kingom) 30th July 2008	it seems to me that wherever you have a gun culture or third world approach to life you are going to have higher rates of murder. its a lot easier to stand at a distance and pull a trigger than to say stab someone or hit them, both from mind set and ability although it happens Guns are illegal in the UK Canada and Aus but legal in the US !!!!!!!!!! got to be a link.
Mario (Chicago) 30th July 2008	People who think that the USA has the highest crime rate even when faced with statitics are clearly brainwashed by TV crime shows.
Shawaan Davids (SA) 28th July 2008	Welcome to the worlds most dangerous place - we love it here and wont trade it for the safest place in the world... life is a risk and if its your time its your time... enjoy and peace and love ... from HELL!
Khan (UK) 28th July 2008	Muslim countries with very low crime rate overall, you can quite easily see this by looking at nationmaster statistics. And the areas with high crime and terrorism are those that have had the disgusting hand of western governments intervene. There's a lesson to this to the worlds nations, don't let outside nations rule you, either indirectly or by proxy.
arif (pakistan) 25th July 2008	you must include murders committed by US in Iraq and Afghanistan this be added murders committed in US and u will be shocked that US is no 1 in murder list
Jamal Anderson (Trinidad) 21st July 2008	No Trinidad in the list. With their crime rate,im surprised.
noel arkwright (united kingdom) 17th July 2008	came to this site wanting to know how many muders there were in the world last year- still dont know- aren't statistics wonderful? can anyone work the sum out for me. I take it this doesnt include abortions, wars, suicide bombers. assassinations etc Someone also wrote that a woman gets raped every 12 seconds in S Africa - whoeve rshe is, she must be in a terrible state by now , poor girl!
Fonz (Netherlands) 15th July 2008	Many people report their country should be higher up in the list.. but do not mistake that the statistics are NATIONWIDE. Not about few of the major cities.
Fonz (Netherlands) 15th July 2008	The USA is a very large country, where majority of the land is not very densely populated. So most of the crime is likely in inner cities. Compare that to the Netherlands, where population density, nation wide, is probably one of the, if not the, highest in the world, yet crime relatively low.
Roy Sigurd Karlsbakk (Oslo, Norway) 12th July 2008	The murder rate mentioned here for Norway is high compared to that given by Norwegian police. 0.0106684 per 1,000 people * 4,750,000 / 1000 = 50.67. According to last year's statistics http://www.politi.no/pls/idesk/docs/f1537358626/drapsstatistikk2007.pdf 36,6 people have been murdered on average the last 10 years, and only 31,5 the last four years.
J-man (Oki, Japan) 10th July 2008	Isn't it funny how we Americans fail to see outside of our country. People, you must remember that majority of the top countries are poor countries. These countries also have gone through economic and political turmoil for decades now. To enlighten you; I was born in Jamaica and raised in the states. Jamaica had 1,000 murders in the year of 2005 and 2007. So Americans, let us appreciate our country a lot more than what we see on the news and on movies.
Keith (Ireland) 10th July 2008	With ref to the US Homicide rate, go look at the ethnic split, 13% of the poulation account for over 1/2 (about 54%) of the homicides: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/race.htm Even that is misleading. Mostly due to youth drug gangs in a few major cities. To blame either "problematic" majority or minority ethnic groups is to mis the point, it's criminals doing the murdering. most have 2 or more prior convictions for violent crimes before murdering. US and UK figures are not directly comparable. US uniform crime reporting lists as homicide anything that initially looks like homicide. UK only if it results in criminal conviction
John (Charlotte NC) 8th July 2008	Are these just the reported murders? If so, that notation should be made. There is genocide going on in other countries that are rarely spoken of and government figures are suspect. I was surprised that South Africa was not number 1.
MARTIN MATSI (JOHANNESBURG,SOUTH AFRICA) 2nd July 2008	India should be much higher on the per capita list: - many murders go unreported - many infant female deaths go unreported - that is children that are born, not abortions - many "kitchen fire" deaths go unreported
ashwin (singapore) 29th June 2008	hi people, I need some help in clarifying a doubt. Could someone please please kindly tell me if it is fair and safe to conclude that if there is a higer population, in a particular country or state, it inevitably will have a higher crime rate? I would like to quote an example(it is not mine) to help paint a better story : 'The united States has the death penalty, and Europe doesnt. however, depsite having over 250 million more people then each individual European country, the US only has about 65-75 (depending on which Euro country you are coparing the US to) more homicides per 100,000 then those Euro countries. It is then easy to deduce that if the population of the US and Euro countries was even, the Euro homicide rate would be 100 times higher ' Is that a fair comment? Thank you very much.
Weston (Austin, TX) 28th June 2008	Why does the United States have the highest murder rate among first world countries? It's quite simple. The United States is the most "diverse" first world country. Blacks are 13% of the population in the US but commit over 50% of the murders. The US states with the highest proportion of Caucasian population (Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, Iowa, North Dakota), all have murder rates below 2 per 100,000, right in line with Western Europe. You can cry "racism" all you like, but it won't change these facts.
kLinGOn (filthy rich'mond va usa) 11th June 2008	murders.... hmmm do chemical factory explosions by usa companies on our soil or foreign soil count as murder? where would iraq factor in to this in 2006 or 7? this is from 2000. Further does starvation by banks and politics count as Murder? do the people that make all the money off arms/bullet& defense sales ever count as murder.. even during war since, most often the two sides are pitted against one another by propaganda, MEDIA & politics forcing the poor versus the poor scenerio for the means of the corporate elite beneficiary's who own the war stocks, oil and banking lending giants.. Ive never seen anneheuser Bush on trial for drunk driving deaths? but tobbacco companies..
Steven (Utah) 9th June 2008	I can attest that here in Utah almost all murders in the news have a hispanic name behind it. I'm not saying that other people don't commit murders but I can read about at least 1 murder a week that is attributed to either a hispanic gang or individual...many times it's hard to tell from a news story if a gang affiliation is present unless stated.
Bobby (Trinidad) 9th June 2008	Of course Baltimore has a higher murder rate than reported. Homeless homicides routinely go unreported or are filed as accidents. And all the people blaming the murder rate on immigrants are funny. Most murder in ghettoes aren't committed by Latinos, but mostly by homegrown black gangs. Just look at the statistics on South Central, 90% of the murders are black on black crime. just because you can't be bothered to change your social policy doesn't mean you get to lie.
daniel tenn (Jamaica) 8th June 2008	This needs to change we are the only caribbean country that is in the top 62
Humberto Azpurua-Pardi (Venezuela) 7th June 2008	It's sad this situation. Venezuelan governments should invest in security and education. Also rule alcohol use. Many of murderers are under alcohol and drugs influence.Prevention is a very important step to violence and crimes.
Andre Britain (Trinidad) 30th May 2008	Trinidad & Tobago should be on that list, with a population of approximatly 1.3 million people there is an avarage of 2 murders a day as of May 30th 2008 we have a total of 200 murders for the year thus far
Tom (London) 23rd May 2008	I can't understand why Finland is so high, it must be either boredom or vodka, or potentially both.
Rasmus (Denmark) 18th May 2008	Violence in the US is not due to liberal weapon laws, which has been proved many times. Liberal weapon laws actually decrease the number of homicides. The relatively high number of murders in the US is because of multiculturalism, just like the European countries are getting more violent as immigration rises.
Rasmus (Denmark) 18th May 2008	I'd like so see the Swedish numbers. I believe I would be able to get updated numbers for most of the countries, if you're interested?
Tommy D (San Francisco, CA, USA) 13th May 2008	Colombian murders are mostly related to drugs-the majority of which are consumed in the USA and a few other countries. The most dangerous job in Colombia is being an honest judge. They are some of the bravest men I have ever known. Many have been killed trying to clean up their country.
Aaron (NYC) 7th May 2008	I only looked at the first 10 countries on the list and I knew the stats were incorrect. It's about time you update your stats
chris (south africa) 23rd April 2008	I really think south Africa is probably the worlds most dangerous place.Just think about it more people die here everyday than in the war in the middle east.Only 58 deaths a day here and around 400 girls rapped daily.And it is almost like no one else in this world cares.
Proud Dominican (St Kitts) 16th April 2008	It is obvious that this list is extremely flawed. Dominica, one of the most peaceful and crime free countries in the Caribbean is listed at #28 for murders per capita, while a number of other countries in the Caribbean with much higher rates per capita are not even listed. I suggest that if you can't produce a list to include the statistics of most regions, then you should completely eliminate that region from your list. Otherwise, unsuspecting readers may make bad investment decisions due to misleading information on your list.
KK (TnT) 13th April 2008	Trinidad and Tobago...more specifically Trinidad is rated 9th in the world. Also murder rate seems to be rising every year, where most go unsolved. Further more in the not too distant past its kidnapping rate was second highest in the world (right behind Columbia) Seems as though some countries were just not considered, it is a very small island.
Jereme (sacramento) 10th April 2008	I don't see how south africa can have more murders by firearm than total murders... that doesn't make any sense. maybe I wasn't paying attention. The world has alot of dangerous places and that isn't a good thing. Some people act like it's a contest to see who's the baddest. We should be trying to be the country with the least amount of murders and crime.
Thomas Schneider (Austria) 8th April 2008	Fernando from Seattle you have to go more updated. Its the murder rate of the UK and Canad which is less than 1/4 of the US. But not the overall crime rate. Even some categories of violent crimes are higher in Canda as in the US. And some property crimes too. Overall still i think USA has a higher crime rate as Canda. But the overall Crime Rate and i looked for recent statistics in England is higher as in the US. Also the violent crime rate accept for murder rape is higer in the UK as in the US and property crime like car theft and bruglary too. Just because you said less than 1/4 of the crime rate - the murder rate that it is.
Fernando (Seattle) 1st April 2008	"Michael (Pennsylvania)" Michael, those crime rates have more to do with other variables (such as population density) than they do with gun control laws. More crimes occur in NYC than Montana because a heck of a lot more than just "gun control". Gun control in Canada and the UK is strict and they have less than 1/4 of the US crime rate. By your wacky logic "the Projects" or Baghdad ought to be the safest place in the world.
Fernando (Seattle) 1st April 2008	"Mario from Croatia" where are your sources? It never ceases to surprise me how those who make blanket statements about countries are usually the least informed.
R Lee (Trinidad) 1st April 2008	As disheartening as it is to say, Trinidad and Tobago would be 5th on this list with a figure of .291541 per thousand - using the 2005 totals. The population of the twin island country is 1.324 million (2005 est) and in 2005, 2006 and 2007 there have been 386, 371 and 388 murders respectively. This is a relatively recent development - in 2000, 118 murders were committed (rate of .0907) and the homicide rate has gone up every year since then on average by 20 percent.
Siva Nair (Kuala Lumpur) 28th March 2008	I am just entering in to the business of measuring crime. Why per capita and why per 100k population and how does the issue of density between rural and urban reflect upon the per 100k population figures. Secondly, in order to measure crime should you take the overall crime or just index crime which refers to crime that are reported with sufficient regulartity and sufficient significance to society? Appreciate your inputs. TQ
daniel (mitrovica) 28th March 2008	here is some places the have high murder rates that werent put on the list Jamacia:61 per 100,000 Trinidad and Tobago:36 per 100,000 Albania: 28 per 100,000 El Salvador:58 per 100,000 Guatemala:52 per 100,000 Also i think that papue new guinea would definetly be over 20 per 100,000 as there is a very high level of poverty and unemployment, corrupt police and the majority is highlands and jungle were tribal violence is very high and many murders go unreported or are not followed up as it happens throughtout the coutry regulary. i would love to know somalias murder rate it would probably be around 400 per 100,000 and kosovos it would probably be around 25 per 100,000
Peter (Minnesota) 25th March 2008	I question the accuracy of this table. Try this http://www.benbest.com/lifeext/murder.html
Michael (Pennsylvania) 24th March 2008	Sadly, within the U.S. the highest murder rates occur in the states with the most strict gun laws. Left wingers fear guns like Right wingers fear gays. It's a fear of the unknown and ignorance that makes them both want to abolish their fears. Moderates are the tolerant educated United States people who can respect and get along with about anything or anyone.
Jesse (South Africa) 22nd March 2008	South Africa is 2nd on the list, which is not a good thing at all but some countries are not on the list at all. Are we that high on the list because we have a high report ratio for murders if so that could be a good thing because our crimes are being reported and recorded. I am trying to figure out if its really as bad as some are saying and if it is getting worse, or if I criminal systems is improving and more crimes are being reported. How bad is South Africa from an outsiders point of view?
tim (d.c.) 21st March 2008	Shouldn't the U.S. have to factor in the murders of Iraqis into their murder rate since they invaded their country without any provocation whatsoever? I guess if you use the most lethal killing machine (i.e. u.s. military)the world has ever seen to kill foreigners on their own land it doesn't count.
Edward A. O'Rourke (Detroit, MI) 19th March 2008	Uh, have you spent much time in urban America lately, John of New York (and by the way, I lived in NYC for 9 years)??? From Newark, across the river from you (not to mention Trenton and Camden) D.C. to Detroit, to Miami to St. Louis to New Orleans to Oakland, we have a murder problem here that is homegrown. Also, research has suggested over and over that undocumented immigrants have no higher a murder rate than the American public in general. You are just privileged enough not to have their experiences, so you are clueless about how many are hard working, God-fearing, family loving souls who contribute to the economy and culture of our nation.
Sanka 19th March 2008	Where is Freetown, Monrovia or Abidjan on this list? Abidjan has days where 50 people will get executed at the same time-Not to mention alot of youths from rival tribal groups massacring each other, some times in high double digits-Not to mention the civil wars where hundreds of thousands were butchered ruthlessly, not to mention the sharp rise in gang warfare that this (predictably brought about as many gangs fought rebels, etc)-and this isnt just for Sierra Leone (Freetown), Monrovia (Liberia) and Abidjan (Cote D'Ivoire), but for countries like Sudan, Brazil, Trinidad & Tobago...and it would seem that everyone has forgotten Haiti. This is definately out of date and accurate due to the many murders that go unreported-and stats are insensitive (which is probably for the best) but I, for one, would like to see city stats too.
D. Ragoo (Trinidad & Tobago) 17th March 2008	please allow me to give some stats for Trinidad and Tobago. there are about 1.3 million people here. The number of murders were as follows: - In 2005: 384 murders - In 2006: 368 murders - In 2007: 386 murders - todays is March 18 2008, there has been approx. one murder per day for the year. Compared to other countries, our Government/authorities haven't a clue as to what to do to curb these numbers. That should place us 5th on your list.
bill (california) 16th March 2008	Some of the comentaries here are not aware that the statistics shown here are from the 1998-2000 years, therefore outdated. Colombia is no longer #1. A more updated info is at: wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_homicide_rate - 263k - Albania 75.86, El salvador 55.3, Jamaica 49, Guatemala 45.2, Honduras 42.91, Venezuela 12, South Africa 39.5, Colombia 39.3, Trinidad 30.38, Brazil 27, Rusia 19.8 Bogota's 2006 rate of about 14 is way lower than US cities like Washington DC, Detroit or Miami.
ASHTON (WASHINGTON USA) 16th March 2008	I see some people sayin America should be number one, when dealing with figures. its facts so who ever is at number one is fact of the figures please think before you post comment.
Thomas (Canada) 16th March 2008	I notice that there is no major comments in this blog from Asian countries...liberal government policies give rise to a liberal attitude in crime prevention...
Alex (United States) 9th March 2008	The murder rate in the United States keeps dropping. This is good news.
Umran (UK) 6th March 2008	Maybe the countries with the highest crime rates can learn from the countries with the lowest crime rates?
Willeh (Toronto, Canada) 27th February 2008	PLEASE people if you're going to regard any form of statistical data about "Colombia", the least you should do is learn to spell the country name properly. That's "Colombia" with an "O" not a "U". So if you're going to drop some very thought-out comment on the Country's current event make sure you come correct with the spelling, otherwise you come off as naive.
Bill (NY) 18th February 2008	After much reading on this topic, I have found the following: Interpol does not release its stats taking Europe mostly off the charts; murder rates are affected by the population of young males as a % of total, the % of the population residing in urban areas, the % of population below the average poverty level for that country, and the amount and size of different ethnic groups within that country.
sithembiso bob choene (STRUISBAAI RSA) 17th February 2008	IAM THE POLICE OFFICIAL IN RSA;WHAT IS THE WORLD EXPECTING FROM RSA IF 80% OF THE GOVERNMENT WERE PRISONERS,CORRUPT,FRAUDLANT I REALLY WANT TO GET AWAY FROM HERE BUT I JUST DONT KNOW HOW IF HELL IS AROUND THE UNIVERSE THEN RSA CAN BE THE ONE
gina (germany) 14th February 2008	time to update your crime stats I work with criminology and statistics and colombia isn't even on the top five these days brazil is the third most murderous place on the planet and it isnt even on the list britain is the most dangerous country in europe when it comes to murders, not estonia whoever worked on this list should get fired!
Heheh (London) 29th January 2008	I think South Africa records a rape every 17 minutes - not 17 seconds. South Africans make stuff up. George, Scotland's murder rate includes culpable homicides I've heard so they must be treated with caution. England & Wales' rate is around 1.5 (twice as high as what you said) per 100,000 and London normally has a higher rate than Scotland.
Bernard (Canada) 9th January 2008	Is there any stats on Guyana,seems to have daily murders there
W. Gallagher (Paris) 8th January 2008	Why isn't Brazil on the list? According to the Christian Scien ce Monitor, the rate in Brazil is currently .26 per 1,000 and for Rio de Janeiro it is .40 per 1,000.
Luís Manuel (São Paulo) 2nd January 2008	Where are Brazil,Bolivia and other countries from Africa?
Digby Green (New Zealand) 2nd January 2008	Does "murder" include manslaughter ? Here in New Zealand we think we have a lot of murders, but I see that according to the list we are quite low down.
Kirsten (Australia) 1st January 2008	Wow B (US) where exactly are you counting as a first-world post-industrialised country?? There are a few there above the US. Russia being one of them
Goran (Sweden) 29th December 2007	I miss Sweden in the figures. Since my own study some years ago I know that Sweden has about 5 - 15 times higher rate than the other Scandinavian countries. I phoned up the responsible for the official statistics. The woman replied that the swedish way to call the crime in other words cause the figures to "look good". Sweden has very, very mild punishment for severe crimes. In addition Sweden has the lowest rate of catching the quilty for severe crimes in Western Europe. Many are really upset, but I would say in this item there is really an official censorship.
Will Smart (South Africa) 28th December 2007	Josh, if you want to compare Baltimore with countries e.g. Colombia and South Africa then by all means please do so. You can even proclaim Baltimore number 1 if you wish. By the sounds of your comment and not just from you, you want your countries or "city" in your case to be on top so you can brag about living in the most dangerous place on earth. With due respect, grow up a little my friend!
Iain (Glasgow) 19th December 2007	Actually the UK from the statistics above is 1.4 per 100,000 while the Scotland is 2.3 per 100,000 and that places Scotland around 34th, below 14 other European countries, not the 2nd highest as the last poster indicated.
Robert Ingram (Dallas) 18th December 2007	Definitely seem to be missing Iraq which I would guess is number one.
Jorge (Margartia Venezuela) 18th December 2007	Venezuela is much worse now under Chavez, you need to update your stats. Murders and armed robbery is out of control completely. Margarita Island once with only a murder a month is now a dangerous place with 4 or 5 murders per week and endemic armed robberies with low paid Police often part of the crime.
Lee M (Birmingham UK) 16th December 2007	Having spoken to hundreds of customers in my airgun shop I found about 95% of them think America is top of the list. What does this say about our government & media coverage. Are they trying to protect those migrating to our country or coming here to work? When will they advertise the homicide levels in countries where these people are coming from & let the public know the reality, and leave the Americans alone!
Ed (South Africa) 13th December 2007	We are second? Proudly South African? Whats to be proud of? Sh#t.
raymon cummings (guyana) 12th December 2007	the chart tells a good story. even though guyana is not listed due to the relatively low crime rate the US still sends out advisories against travel to guyana what about travel with in the USA
Curious (Trinidad and Tobago) 12th December 2007	Has Trinidad and Tobago been filing its homicide stats? Clearly not since we know that we surpassed Jamaica's murder rate last year. I find that very interesting
Billy Johnstone (London, UK) 11th December 2007	I love seeing all the Americans get all patriotic, you lot are hilarious, Jonathan Smith thank you for the great contributions. When are the US going to accept that easy assess to guns contributes to high murder rates. By no means are things perfect in the UK, far from it but the police do not even carry guns here and it does them no harm. The less guns in society in general inevitably means there is a decreased chance they are going to be used. I am also puzzled as to why suddenly gang related culture is all attributed to the hispanic population. American politics needs to address some serious issues if it is to join the rest of the western world in regards to crime statistics. A good start might be to set an example on violence by not executing their own citizens and providing a law which allows most to have guns.
Adito (NY, USA) 11th December 2007	USA is leading country in crimes and death around the world. Anyone see the film Bowling In Columbine by Michael Moore, you will see what I am talking about.
Dylan Scott (Monterrey, Mexico) 3rd December 2007	I was born and grew up in the US. The USA is very safe and civilized countrie, so i am not surprized to see that your crime rate is lower compaired to other countrie. Example: Philly PA, is become an unsafe city in the US, 2 People are murdered everyday in Philly. Monterrey, Mexico is considered a safe city in mexico, but 8 people everyday are murdered. TO BECOME AWARE OF CRIME IN OTHER COUNTRIES TRAVEL TO OTHER COUNTIRE AND THE MAKE YOUR JUDGEMENTAl OPIONS. :)
E. Cartman (Southpark, CO) 30th November 2007	What about the shining jewel of Central America, Guatemala??? ALL drugs and money traded between South America and the United States by land MUST pass through Guatemala. Any country where four police officers are being held in prison for murder (gunning down three members of the El Salvadoran government and their driver with automatic weapons, then setting the car they were in on fire - most likely over a drug trafficking disagreement/bribe that got unpleasant) and are themselves gunned down in their cells and not one guard at the prision notices anything unusual despite a several hour power outage that proceeded the incident, the culprits going in and leaving through locked doors and of course the sound of barrage of automatic weapons fire from AK-47's, AR-15's and unidentified 9mm's after the likely screams as they were slashed up with knives prior to being gunned down... and this place doesn't even make the list???
Patrick Joseph Martin (Trinidad and Tobago) 30th November 2007	With a population of approximately 1.4 million people, Trinidad as at November30,2007 already has 343 murders so far for this year only.It should be in the top five in the list.
Matt (Auckland, New Zealand) 29th November 2007	It never ceases to amaze (and sadden) me when I browse threads in forums and find one where Americans are talking about the various guns they keep hidden in their home for self defense. Nobody should have to keep guns in their home. It's the fact that the public is freely allowed to own guns that results in firearm related crime being so rampant...because this also makes them easily available to criminals. Unfortunately, once gun ownership is widespread amongst the public, it is difficult to reverse, because criminals will retain their firearms illegally, while law abiding citizens will fight for the right do the same because they fear those armed criminals and wish to be able to defend themselves with equal force. It's a vicious cycle and the US government needs to have good think about how to end it.
Sasha (from Trinidad) 27th November 2007	Trinidad and Tobago as at today: Population 1,056,608 (July 2007 est. CIA Factbook) Murders for the year 388 Murder rate works out to: 0.367 per 1,000 people. This list is out of date/innacurate.
george (Glasgow, UK) 25th November 2007	The UK is really low on the list but if you split it into the home nations, England and Wales have like 0.7 per 100,000 whereas Scotland has 2.5 or something its the second highest in western Europe.
Rao Gundala (Trinidad) 19th November 2007	Why Trinidad and Tobago is in the list. They do have lot of crime.
Heheh (London) 19th November 2007	Baltimore's murder rate isn't far higher (or even higher) than official data Josh, stop making stuff up. On top of that you're forgetting that Colombia and South Africa have cities with far higher murder rates than their national average, so why compare Baltimore to the WHOLE of these countries?
MIGUEL PEREZ (HILL TOP TOONGA HOUNGA) 17th November 2007	I REALY FEEL VERY SORRY FOR ALL THOSE PEOPLE THAT LIVE IN THE COUNTRIES LISTED BY THE UN. AS THE MOST VIOLENT IN THE WORLD, THAT MAKES ME FEEL SO BLESSED, AND UNIQUE TO LIVE HERE IN "TOONGA HOUNGA" WHERE THE CRIME RATE IS "ZERO" AND HAS BEEN LIKE THAT FOR MANY YEARS, THE ONLY PROBLEM IS THAT I LIVE HERE ALONG I HAVE NO ONE TO TALK TO!
George H. Cullins (Carlsbad, California, USA) 17th November 2007	In determining the response to the murder rate what has the actual use of the punishment of being executed done to the murder rate? What Happens to the murder rate in relationship to the time frame of how quickly the punishment is carried out after being found guilty?
Thomas Schneider (Austria) 15th November 2007	Josh from Baltimore its true that the US has some very bad areas like every country. Like it is no secret more in the meantime that the situation is very bad in Baltimore. But as you say the Murder Rate of the City Baltimore is 50 at 100.000 placing the city between South Africa and Colombia is not really comparable as you should compare country and country like city and city. And every country in the world has some extreme bad examples(cities) but many are good too the US is no exception. When you see that the murder rate in SA and Colombia is a lot worse as in the USA you can guess that there are some cities as bad example in these countries which have a much higher murder rate as the top murder rate cities in the US. Hillbrow often said the most dangerous part in South Africa had 107 murders with a population of about 96000 people last year. The peak was about 2.8 per 1000(280/100.000) and 313 farmers per 100.000 are killed annually in SA. Following Germany generally has a much lower murder rate as the US but if you take germanies worst city with a murder rate of 9 per 100.000 its over the national average of the US. But its not to denie that there need to be some change of the possibility of gun ownership in America.
Rick Stewart (Cedar Rapids, Iowa, US) 15th November 2007	I would like to find a more comprehensive, more up-to-date list for not only murder rates but other crime rates. Gathering statistics costs money, however, and many governments decide to spend their citizens' money in other ways. That said, rough comparisons can be made between countries. For most of us, however, the murder rate that counts is the murder rate where we live, work, study or otherwise spend most of our time. Since I don't live in Baltimore, the high murder rate in Baltimore has very little effect on me (perhaps the price I pay for heroin goes up?). Most risks can simply be 'walked around,' and there is no need to build a fence. Politicians and the media (not to mention fence builders) make their living by scaring us, however, and in the case of politicians by promising to make the scary things go away. Ultimately, all danger is relative. Even in the most statistically dangerous country in the world (Columbia) your chances of getting bumped off this year are only 1 in 1618, and your chances of dying in a traffic accident are 1 in 5000 (world average). We should all fasten our seat belts, and pass the ammunition.
John (New York. NY) 14th November 2007	Why wouldn't America have a very high crime rate (murder, rape,etc.) since many of the latest immigrants, illegal or not, come from the most dangerous places on earth.
Nick M. Nomikos (Los Angeles) 13th November 2007	I am sure, that you have gathered information including statistics. I can't say anything about other Countries however, the information about U.S.A. I am sure that for these information you have not done your homework. You are forgeting the varmit killings about two or three years ago with the two black men one of wich was a forteen year old. The killinge in the school by the student, the killing in the collage by the oriental, the killing of the service station attentant, the mass religious killings by poison.(yes these were more than five or six years ago) the two thowsant killings by the death roe inmates in California prisons that waiting for execution or the death roe inmates in Texas, and other states where hundreds more waiting for execution. These killings were not the results of domestic desputes, they were premaditated, revenge, and for kicks murders. You can't even call the Simpson murders a domestic dispute, if you do, you will still be wrong because it was premaditation. I am sory that I can't be more specific, about names, dates, and plases, a small scale research however, will confirm my argument. Thank you for the opportunity Nick M. Nomikos
Josh (Baltimore, MD, USA) 13th November 2007	The City of Baltimore is rapidly approaching 300 murders for the year 2007 with a population of roughly 600,000. If you talk to any local police, they will tell you the numbers are far lower then the actual murder rate due to 'cooking the books'. That means their per capita rate is 0.5 per 1000 people. This would place the City of Baltimore between Columbia and South Africa, the top two countries in the world for murder rates.
Tony (USA Az) 9th November 2007	If some demographic analysis were to be done on the US data and localized gang violence were separated out, the US data would reflect a very non-violent society, ranking with Ireland etc.
Veritas (Australia) 7th November 2007	Regardless of the statistics being discussed, I am very disappointed to see a few of the people on this site making comments that are agressive and contain swear words. It is not necessary to insult each other and perhaps good manners might be a way to start on the road to reducing the crime rate.
Jay (United States) 6th November 2007	"For those that try to defend the murder rate of the USA saying we are still better than Iraq and Afghanistan - you seem to be missing the point - we should try to compare ourselves to other civilized countries like Japan, Greece, Switzerland, Ireland, Norway. Stop making guns available to every nutcase at Walmart!" Gun ownership in Switzerland is actually far less stigmatized and widespread than it is in the United States, and as you can see it is a significantly safer country. Indeed, it is far safer than even the countries that restrict gun ownership. Crime in the United States is the highest in the areas that prohibit or severely restrict gun ownership... such as the major cities. Rural areas that are conservative/libertarian in which gun ownership is more widespread and less stigmatized have lower crime rates. One of the worst areas of the United States is precisely the area with some of the strictest gun control laws of all - Washington D.C. Since they implemented their gun control laws, crime has skyrocketed. Stop looking for such simplistic solutions to complex problems.
Thomas Schneider (Austria) 22nd October 2007	Hi Guys here you have a more current updated list its till 2006. Colombia isn´t longer leading still leader with murder is a south American followed by south Africa again. And there you will see which rank US is even really now. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_homicide_rate - 263k -
B. (US) 21st October 2007	Josh, the United States is number 24. It IS the highest of the most modernized, first-world post-industrial countries by a large margin, however, 4 per 1000 as opposed to the UK, Australia, Canada 1 per 1000. However, the population of the United States is much higher than these countries, which can skew statistics (believe it or not).
Guccio (Italy) 21st October 2007	REMEMBER READERS If there is a missing nation, that is because there is no data for that nation if all data was available then probably Somalia, Sudan, Iraq or Afghanistan will be number #1
chris ((New Orleans)) 14th October 2007	new orleans had about 450 homicides in 2005 with the population under 400,000... what would that murder rate be?
Sara (NM) 1st October 2007	Brian in Florida is obviously living in an altered state. Most murders in the US are attributed to domestic violence.
Thomas Schneider (Austria) 27th September 2007	Hi Wilson I would like to see the Colombian Crime Report. I have been looking for statistics of South American Countries for long time. I have the statistics of South Africa and USA.Especial I´d like to compare South Africa´s Violence with a South American Country. So please send it.
aguinaldo (Recife, Brazil) 24th September 2007	the thing I am about to state is not something I am particularly proud of, but it is a fact. I read that in absolute numbers (so independent of the number of inhabitants) Brazil scored at the top three of violent countries in the world and that Recife, together with Rio de Janeiro are the 2nd and third violent cities per capita in the Latin American Region (only Mexico city scored higher). I think it is really surprising that Brazil is not to be seen on the list above. ONCE AGAIN IT'S NOT SOMETHING i'M PROUD OF, BUT I THINK IT SHOULD BE CHECKED AND IF TRUE, ADDED TO THE LIST, JUST TO ALERT PEOPLE!!!
Michael Willis (USA) 11th September 2007	El Salvador should be number at least 2005 to present date. 61 murders per 100,000. The new census in 2007 counted 5.9 million, compared to the expected 7 million where they though they would be. The country is averaging 10 murders a day
AjMinSko (Sweden) 3rd September 2007	Does anyone have a link on statistics regarding "guns per capita"?
Jeff (UK) 21st August 2007	Seems like the murders per capita are all out of wack. U.K. is worse than U.S. if you don't count suicides and domestic violence. But obviously you should count domestic violence but should not count suicides. It's a sticky issue & almost 100% you hear is b.s. Wikipedia has a good rundown.
Mario (Croatia) 20th July 2007	I just wanna know where is Honduras beacuse as far as I know that hell of a dangerous country has murder rate over 150 per 100 000! And I'm not so sure about other information here. Colombia went second.
Scott (Washington, D.C.) 13th July 2007	For Thomas L in Ann Arbor and his statement about guns in America - Switzerland has more guns per capita than the US and yet you hold them up as a standard for the US to work towards by getting rid of our guns. Crime (murder) isn't just about guns, it's a complex social issue that can't be answered with just an ignorant solution of getting rid of guns.
Dancho (CA) 29th June 2007	Guys, you must be kidding! "unreported murder" ? What is that? How it happens? I think such noncence comes from the americans low esteem of other peoples life. Do you really beleive that a murder in India would go unreported? Why we have hihger murder rate than Georgia and Yemen? Simply they don't have guns. Put you hand on the heart and answer this question: "How many thimes somebody cuts you on a freeway you wish to kill him?" I really mean kill him. And then 1 hour later forget completly what happened. Well this happens everywhere in the worrld but only US residents are so heavily armed.
Ibin Yankinoff (Houston, TX USA) 20th June 2007	This list is a bunch o' bull corn. Yes, we have a lot of murders in the US, but many countries aroung the world get off the hook because the under-report their crime statistics. You all know it is true.
Susan Baker (Bountiful, UT) 10th June 2007	How do you define homicide...are the victims of car bombs for instance, considered homicides?
greg chimenti (usa) 22nd May 2007	What is Cuba's per capita murder rate? Percapita usually means per one hundred thousand. It would be alot easier to read your tally sheet if homicide was not listed per one thousand.
Joshua (Arizona) 16th May 2007	I agree with Don from Denver and Bill's statement. I would also be very curious to know as well TT (Norway). I would also like to add that Wenis(CommerceCity) is ridiculously misinformed. Compared to other nations (eg: Mexico, Puerto Rico, Philippines, India, and especially Colombia) we have absolutely nothing to fear. As my previous message, in America, it depends on the district, neighborhood, and region you live in. Generally speaking, our murder rate is NOTHING. For my second point, anyone who is under the impression that the majority of the illegal mexicans crossing our borders are not practicing criminal activity does not live near a border town/city or has not spent enough time in a mexican dominant community. My statement is not racist in any way and my facts come from experience. For the past 7 years that I have lived in this crime infested spanish dominant community I have mexican compadres and a couple of them have spoken to me about family members and acquaintences. Not all but a good 60% of illegals (if not more) are practicing criminal activity. If it's not true in all parts of America, it IS true for communities West of Texas.
Joshua (Arizona) 16th May 2007	My father is a native of the Philippines which initially makes me a filipino-american. I am suprised to find that the Philippines is not on the list. I may be misled but by word of mouth I have heard that the Philippine nation is pretty much neck and neck with Mexico. I'm hoping someone can submit some statistics about the Philippines. In addition, according to my speculation I think these are the most dangerous nations in the world (in no particular order). Colombia, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Haiti, Brazil, India, Venezuela, and possibly Cuba. This list does not even include the middle-eastern third world countries which most likely may be considerably higher than any that I have mentioned. About the United States......generally speaking, we are VERY safe compared to many other countries. Yes, considering that we are the greatest nation on earth and SHOULD have order and control since we are not a 3rd world country our murder rate should be much less. In this country, it depends on the Neighborhood, District, or Region that you live in for any major city. This only excludes the small communities of East Palo Alto, CA - Gary, IN - Compton, CA - Richmond, CA - Opa-Locka, FL - Camden, NJ - Youngstown, OH - Flint, MI - and Richmond, VA.
Tony (England) 16th May 2007	There are people in America (eg Matthew) who when they don't like statistics such as these will always blame illegal immigrants. I have seen the same argument used to explain poor infant mortality rates.
Danielle (FL, USA) 12th May 2007	For those of you stating that it is hispanics coming to the US illegally and causing gang warfare as the main cause of us murders, think about it, you can only legally buy guns in the US if you are at least a legal permanent resident. Not to say that it is not possible that some guns are purchased and smuggled illegally, but I would argue that they are not causing a majority of the murders in the US.
Arthur Black (Beecher Illinois) 9th May 2007	In Jamaica does having marijuana or selling it against the law?
RJ (California) 28th April 2007	Where is Iraq on this list? You are trying to tell me they are not in the top 10 of countries with high murder rates?
Jason A (Cincinnati) 27th April 2007	I have to agree with Thomas L..... we shouldn't be happy that we're not at the top, we should be upset that we're not lower on the list with nations like Canada, Australia, UK.... Matthew in FL--- what % is the "large part" that you claim comes from illegals ?
Duane (United States) 27th April 2007	Josh you are wrong The United States is on there and we are definatly not number 1 you have to take into account countries that are constantly undergoing civil unrest regardless of how many gang shootings and psycho killers we have in the States it is uncomparable with full blown civil war
Beavis (Compton, CA) 24th April 2007	Hey people, well unfortunately i live in Compton and this city has been having the most murder rates per capita in the untited states in most of the past and recent years. This city has roughly about 55% hispanics, 40% african-amercans, and less than 5% of pacific islanders, whites, and american indians. And well since ive been all over the US quite a bit, i have noticed definitely that us hispanics are the cause for the most dangerous crime, murders. im sorry but its true guys, we're the ones to blame for all these murders and tortures. Well living here in Compton i have seen some TERRIBLE things this place is a death sentence while there are not alot of rapes, robberies, etc, the most dangerous crimes, murders and tortures, happen all the time!
Sid Rosenblum (USA) 21st April 2007	Twisted logic (or better: heated emotions?) from: David (alabama) who on 29th January 2007 writes: "Although the US may not be perfect it is still one of the greatest countries to live in and be a part of otherwise we wouldnt have so many illegals and foreign natives coming in to our country. So undoubtedly its not so pathetic." - Well, no one (even after politically-correct unreporting (by classmates, drama class teacher, etc.) of "creative" qualities of fellow student, Mr. Cho, says that something is pathetic, although it might not be that much off mark assessment. But David's argument that this is "one of the greatest countries to live in" because "OTHERWISE WE WOULDNT HAVE SO MANY ILLEGALS AND FOREIGN NATIVES COMING IN TO OUR COUNTRY" is - pathetically - missing the point. The question is - even politically incorrect - WHO is comming, illegally or legally? Typically, statistically, i.e. what is significant for any arument. --- Say how many immigrants we have had over the past 20-30 years say from West Europe, Japan, other "great countries to live in"? Answer and INS statisticts support real-life claim: Not that many. Actually, a trickle, pathetic percenage of the total influx, starting with legal immingration. WHY IS SO? Especially since decades earlier millions came from those countries in search of something better (better life, better livelyhood, free of persecusion, etc.) Today (and for last couple of decades) say the absolute majority of West Europeans would be FOOLISH to seriosly entertain idea of immigrating here. WHY? Because for 95% of West Europeans, as example, would not be, overal, better of here. In standard of living, quality of bublic education, access to universal health care, safety of any kind, social security, lenght-of-vacation, unemploymentb benefit, cost of higher education (yes, it is NOT communist to have university studies free of charge), etc. etc. WHO is then flooding the gates? Which all of us are equal before the Creator and supposedly before the law, composition of last few decades immigrant body is different what it used to be. Countries where standard of living, quality of life, all kind of serious problems are (much) worse than in the US supply the disproportional, overhelming share of arrivals. Obvious question is: Would US which David and others, many around the world, traditional hold in such high esteem, be what it is when say it would have been majority of immigrants say from Central America or Africa, etc. who would imprint the majority characted on the country, its institutions, ways of operations, industry, etc.? Obviously it woyuld have been (and gradually will be?) a different countryu that which it has been last 200 plus years. Concerning illegal imigration: While US, now with 300 mil inhabitants can EASILY support twice as many (600 mil) as acreage and natutral resources are here, compare to most of the world underutilized, it is obvious who is interested in letting the unchecked influx go on. Country which sent a man on to the Moon almost 40 years ago would certainly be technically able to seal its borders (as East Germany managed in much more difficult landscape). So Qui bono? Average American, legal immigrants? Or businesses, vegetable and frit plantations, construction industry, generally those who have excess production capacity and need MARKET, consumption to take care of its overproduction? All those regularly coming "immigration reforms" bring nothing to most of Americans. Only extra government expenses on services, public schools, etc. But in a larger picture, those who have millions of acres of undeveloped land, who need cheapest, no-benefit citrus pickers, day laborers, nannies, yard maintenance, etc. they benefit, --- Concerning VT massacre and NATIONWIDE FEAR of all kind of school and university leaders about COPY CAT: Why they are worry? Our NRA and violent TV, movie, videogame industries are telling us over and over again: Gund do not kill, people do. Plus: Being fed with increasing dosages and sofistication of violence is just "fun", "ralaxation", no one's inspiration (BTW: Mr. Cho apparently got his inspiration from one Korean film, see his pictures sent to NBC, including him and a hammer, etc.) Of course COPY CAT is very real, grave concern.
David Lindsey (USA) 21st April 2007	Mr. Sanville, what makes you say this is "clearly" only a sampling of countries? You could be right, but that point hardly seems clear from the way the purveyors of this list chose to present it. In the absence of any explanation to the contrary, it is logical to presume the authors intended for this list to be interpreted as a comprehensive rank ordering of the 62 most homocidal countries in the world. What seems clear to me, however, is that this list is neither comprehensive nor up-to-date and should not be considered authoritative.
Ed Sanville (US/UK) 20th April 2007	Most of you seem to be completely misunderstanding this list. It's clearly only a sample of the countries on earth, not the "62 highest murder rates." Also, the US IS on the list, and NO it does not have the highest murder rate on earth, Josh from Texas. That distinction has gone to Colombia for a long time now.
Jared (Florida) 18th April 2007	"For those that try to defend the murder rate of the USA saying we are still better than Irak and Afghanistan - you seem to be missing the point - we should try to compare ourselves to other civilized countries like Japan, Greece, Switzerland, Ireland, Norway. Stop making guns available to every nutcase at Walmart!" Alright, then, let's also let those havens of "civilization" then likewise compare themselves with Indonesia; a well-known hotbed of Islamic violence...Hmmm...appears that these countries have higher rates of murder. The statistics are, as has been stated, not equal due to reporting and definition differences. If you think Indonesia is actually safer than Great Britain, take a vacation there sometime. Likewise, to think the U.S. is somehow murder central compared with Europe is a very simplistic and short-sided view. Oh, and I didn't mention that apparently Saudi Arabia is also safer than all of your aforementioned "civilized" countries. Woops, I guess the Saudi's also decided to neglect to report some killings. Fact is, as faulty as our government can be, it is FAR more accountable to its citizens than ANY of the nations you've mentioned, as if therefore burdened with being more accurate in reporting ALL of the violence against its citizens.
David Fontanez (Puerto Rico) 15th April 2007	Where is Puerto Rico in this list? Recently, the press here reported that we have the third highest violent murder rate in the world. Where are we?
The Scholar (Fantasia) 14th April 2007	United States is at Number 24. These figures are from 1998-2000. It may not be current but I would say it's pretty accurate for that period. Murder has a universal definition and I think there are only a few unreported cases if ever.
Thomas Schneider (Austria) 7th April 2007	Hi there, at first you have really good information here. Homicide leading countries South aFrica and Colombia are leading. But America is also not worse in crime. There are reliable statistica dn reports of International Crime Orgainzations stating that Colombia,South aFrica, Venezuela, Mexico have higher Crime rates stating that they where leader. There are a little bit over 4000 crimes at 100.000 people in America and SA police confirmed more than that at the country. And that Columbia should be safer as Germany man even not a naive person believes you that. NationMaster please ask others which will tell you that and give correct information here.
C Lynn (USA) 10th March 2007	There are so many unreported deaths of women in the Muslim nations makes your statistics unrealistic. You need a statistical model to include such data, and I think you will be shocked.
Finbar (Philly) 27th February 2007	Brazil isnt even on the list. Theres no way this list is accurate. Also the United States is above Georgia and Yemen. Thats impossible.
Will Shanahan (USA) 11th February 2007	Brian, we buy a significant portion of our uranium from Canada. They were also an auxillary of Britain until recently, which means their scientists and medicines came from a different place. but what's with all the insults? Furthermore, the US should not be on the top of the list. if anything, there should be a whole slew of third world countries there, like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, and Ethiopia (all of which I believe aren't listed). To Mr. Malone: Canada have a very high porportion of guns, but these are rifles and not hand guns.
John (USA) 29th January 2007	Canada is one of the world's largest exporters of natural resources...you don't think the country with the second largest land mass on Earth has natural resources??? Canada is one of the few developed nations that is a net exporter of energy. Canada has vast deposits of natural gas on the east coast and large oil and gas resources centred in Alberta, and also present in neighbouring British Columbia and Saskatchewan. The vast Athabasca Tar Sands give Canada the world's second largest reserves of oil behind Saudi Arabia. In Quebec, British Columbia, Newfoundland & Labrador, Ontario and Manitoba, hydroelectric power is a cheap and relatively environmentally friendly source of abundant energy. Canada is one of the world's most important suppliers of agricultural products, with the Canadian Prairies one of the most important suppliers of wheat and other grains. Canada is the world's largest producer of zinc and uranium and a world leader in many other natural resources such as gold, nickel, aluminum, and lead. Canada also has a sizeable manufacturing sector, centred in southern Ontario and Quebec, with the AUTOMOBILE industry especially important. No medicines? No scientists? What are you talking about? There is and has been plenty of scientific research an innovation within Canada. Too much to even begin to make a list here....just look it up for yourself. And as for steam-rolling nations, Canadians (formely British North Americans) remember the war of 1812 as a victory in avoiding conquest by the USA. Oh yes, and they burned the Whitehouse.
David (alabama) 29th January 2007	Although the US may not be perfect it is still one of the greatest countries to live in and be a part of otherwise we wouldnt have so many ilegals and foreign natives coming in to our country. So undoubtedly its not so pathetic.
liz (alberta) 19th January 2007	of course the usa has a higher rate of murder than canada, it only makes sense. there is a lot more people crammed into a smaller area. if canada had the same population as the states, we would have the same amount of crime. i dont think its right for canadians to think theyre better than americans because we have less murders. the american are no different than us, so deal with it.
Jeff Ryan (Canada) 5th January 2007	Quote by Roger Malone "Boy just think how bad Canada's murder rate would be if they had guns. I thought from Michael Moorers Movie Canada was fun loving Nation." Yeah because of retarded like you coming up here, and we don't have the right to have a gun in our pockets because we are intelligent unlike some other countries. And if Canada is not a fun loving Nation I don't want to know nor hear about United States, which is number 24 even though you are 300 millions!, what a pathetic place.
Thaddeus Mozkimos (USA) 5th January 2007	India should be much higher on the per capita list: - many murders go unreported - many infant female deaths go unreported - that is children that are born, not abortions - many "kitchen fire" deaths go unreported
Pete (Costa Rica (former us)) 4th January 2007	Look knuckleheads, if you could read you'd find that these are UN statistics from 1998-2000. Maybe the UN is a secret ally of Bush and is covering his murdering butt- in your dreams. If you don't like America try somewhere else for a while. As far as Egypt goes, it is a very safe country for most because it is a virtual police state. Non-reading/non comprehending anti-American/anti-Semitic liberals having their fantasies crushed by UN statistics. Priceless.
Ahmed Helal Hussein (Cairo, Egypt) 3rd November 2006	Therefore, could I presume to say that Egypt is a very very safe country for not being on this list, or is it not included because of lack of data?
guch (ss, vietnam) 1st October 2006	actually i do not see why the usa must be °1 there are much more violent countries in the world. However this list does not include all the nations in the world because they do not have enough data. Somalia would be #1 if it were a complete list
Brendel (Monterey, CA) 29th September 2006	Germany's homicide rate according to the BKA (German FBI) was 3.0 per 100k persons, not 1.16. The former includes all homicides (Mord & Totschlag), while the latter only seems to count murder.
Carlos (California, USA.) 12th September 2006	Matthew (Fla, USA) wrote: "You must also remember that a large part of all the murders in the US come from hispanic gangs illegally entering and killing in gang warfare. Most of these murders are not home grown violence." Are you retarded...or just plain stupid? I agree that it is a part of the statistic, but not the largest. Don't bring your prejudice, racist, and ignorant views to this...because frankly...you are plain wrong.
E Torres (Chicago, IL) 30th August 2006	Quote from "Matthew": Having grown up in inner city Chicago and traveling throughout Mexico, I can tell you that U.S. Hispanic gangs are largely a homegrown problem.
Matthew (Fla, USA) 28th June 2006	You must also remember that a large part of all the murders in the US come from hispanic gangs illegally entering and killing in gang warfare. Most of these murders are not home grown violence.
W blanch (Jersey) 16th June 2006	Where is the most crime on the eastern seaboard besides D.C. I heard it was Camden NJ/PENN.
Charlie (Maryland, USA) 15th June 2006	While using this site to perhaps answer the question posed by Michael Moore in his 2002 Movie "Bowling for Columbine", I discovered that his premise was a non-sequitur. Moore's basic assumption was that America's violence was the world's worst. Based on the data at this site, that assumption is wrong. And that is precisely what I had expected. Why? Because violence is a manifestation of sin which in turn is a result of the dark side of the human condition. Therefore, the solution sought by Moore for the USA is to be sought for the entire world - freedom from sin. And how is this to be obtained? The Good News of Jesus Christ. See St. Paul's letter to the Romans for a better explanation on this subject.
Roger Malone (USA) 15th June 2006	Boy just think how bad Canada's murder rate would be if they had guns. I thought from Michael Moorers Movie Canada was fun loving Nation.
TT (Norway) 13th June 2006	I'd like to see the figures for Brazil and Philippines for murders and murders with firearms.
JoeBogus (Canada) 7th June 2006	Hey Dennis, have you looked at the stats for Eastern Europe and and the US under murders with firearms? http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_wit_fir_percap-crime-murders-firearms-per-capita
Eli (Israel) 29th May 2006	To answer the question about the murder rate in Israel In 2005 there were 163 cases of murder. The population in Israel is about 6.87 milion. This puts the murder rate to about 0.02 per 1000 people (36-37 in this list) I guess you asked this because Israel leads the number of weapons per capita. You may also want to check out the arms of Switzerland and Columbia. There is no good correlation betweend arms and murder. (Well, the correlation is relevant when you ask WHO holds the weapons :-) ) http://www.cbs.gov.il/yarhon/r1_h.htm http://www1.cbs.gov.il/reader/cw_usr_view_SHTML?ID=629
Josh (Texas) 22nd May 2006	There is a bug with this list. The United States should be #1 up there. It's not even on the list. This definitely is not correct.
trbl (South Africa) 16th May 2006	South Africa is second because the current communist gov. supports the distribution of wealth, and the people doing most of the crime are usually seen as the victims, because they have had horrible lives. (compared to 1st world countries, not other African countries) http://www.suntimes.co.za/2002/05/19/news/news12.asp
george 10th April 2006	That chart doesn't show how much legal access they have.
AndyS 6th April 2006	Quote by 'Tori': "Hmm, I think there is a REASON why South Africa is #2 and we ALL know what it is......" Er, no we don't. Would you care to enlighten everyone?
faithless 1st April 2006	"Dennis 2006-02-27 10:40:25 However, they do not have such access to fire guns as US does." I beg to differ: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_wit_fir_percap
Diethart 31st March 2006	UN-crime survey sates: "The statistics cannot take into account the differences that exist between the legal definitions of offences in various countries, of the different methods of tallying, etc.Consequently, the figures used in these statistics must be interpreted with great caution. In particular, to use the figures as a basis for comparison between different countries is highly problematic."
Wilson Barón Calderón 27th March 2006	This figures are not updated, because Colombia has 18.111 homicides last year (2005), which means 39 per 100.000 inhabitants. I`m the Head of Criminological Investigation Center of Judicial Police, the office in charge of prepare all about criminal reports in Colombia. If you want, I can send the Colombian Crime report 2005, so you can update all your figures about my country.
rachel 25th March 2006	If the total recorded intentional homicides for South Africa is 0.5 per 1000 people, how can the total recorded intentional homicides committed with a firearm be 0.7 per 1000 people? How can the second statistic be higher? Am I missing something?
Bill 21st March 2006	Data is taken from UN statistics for the 1998-2000 years, therefore, is not reliable and current. From various sources like LA Times, Brazil, Mexico, Iraq and South Africa are now among the top four in murder rates.
Anon Amous 20th March 2006	@ tori: What reason might that be?
Lloyd Patterson 14th March 2006	Dennis: You are mistaken in believing that Eastern Europe does not have access to guns. The Czech Republic (amongst others), is a large producer of guns, and since the fall of communism many of these have found their way onto the open market. Many people carry guns 'for self-protection'.
tori 9th March 2006	Hmm, I think there is a REASON why South Africa is #2 and we ALL know what it is......
Dennis 26th February 2006	This is interesting that east Europe is on the same level as U.S.

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