In 2024, there were approximately 1.9 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in El Salvador. Since 2015, when it stood at 103, the murder rate has been dropping annually in this Central American country. Crime current state The region has witnessed a substantial reduction in the number of homicides since 2015, resulting in the most common crimes becoming increasingly more centered on non-lethal offenses and material-related transgressions, which now pose the most prevalent threats. This shift is equally apparent across both genders, with the rate of femicides steadily declining, paralleling a consistent decrease in overall victimization rates. Consequently, El Salvador achieved the ranking of the third safest country within the Latin American homicide rate context. Notwithstanding these notable improvements, a lingering sense of caution endures among the populace, as nearly half of them remain apprehensive about the prospect of falling victim to criminal activities. Main economic problems Following an extended phase marked by elevated inflation, the region continues to grapple with challenges in its efforts to recover. The impact has been most pronounced on the prices of essential food items, rendering them increasingly unaffordable for a population where approximately 20 percent live under poverty conditions. Furthermore, the unemployment rate persists, with one out of every two individuals still seeking employment opportunities. A significant proportion, approximately 60 percent, remain apprehensive about job loss, recognizing the subsequent loss of their primary income source. In response, the government is envisaging an enhancement in both the employment rate and the GDP, albeit with a gradual recovery trajectory following the substantial downturn experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Between June 2023 and May 2024, the most frequent crimes in El Salvador were thefts, with almost 7,000 cases. In total, the public prosecutors of El Salvador reported 15,620 high impact crimes, a considerable decrease when compared to the previous year. The number of offenses in some of the main categories of property crimes is significantly lower than in other years, for example, the number of thefts or robberies of vehicles transporting goods decreased by almost 60 percent in 2020 when compared with 2019. With these numbers, it is no surprise that the approval rate of the current government is over 85 percent. The falling homicide rate In 2015, the homicide rate in El Salvador was over 100 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the highest figures in the world. Nonetheless, during the past years, the rate dropped to less than 20 homicides. El Salvador lived through two of the highest days of violence, with over 74 homicides on March 25th and 26th, 2022. Two days after, El Salvador's government declared a state of emergency to counter gang activity and try to end the wave of violence. Once more, the population seems to back up the government, with over 75 percent of Salvadorans declaring that they feel safe with the current emergency state. The economic cost of violence Violence and crime are two of the main problems society faces in El Salvador and the Central American region. In addition to the lack of security, it also generates economic losses, the cost of violence accounted for over 8,849 million USD in 2022, which is over 15 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country, almost double the global average. This figure represents the expenditure of a country to deal with the outcome of violence, contain it, and prevent it from spreading and continuing.

In 2024, there were a total of *** homicides in El Salvador. 2020 experienced the largest decrease, when compared with the previous year. Just a few years before, in 2016, more than ***** people were victims of murder in this Central American country.

The average for 2017 based on 97 countries was 7.4 homicides per 100,000 people. The highest value was in El Salvador: 61.8 homicides per 100,000 people and the lowest value was in Japan: 0.2 homicides per 100,000 people. The indicator is available from 1990 to 2017. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Turks and Caicos Islands saw a murder rate of ***** per 100,000 inhabitants, making it the most dangerous country for this kind of crime worldwide as of 2024. Interestingly, El Salvador, which long had the highest global homicide rates, has dropped out of the top 29 after a high number of gang members have been incarcerated. Meanwhile, Colima in Mexico was the most dangerous city for murders. Violent conflicts worldwide Notably, these figures do not include deaths that resulted from war or a violent conflict. While there is a persistent number of conflicts worldwide, resulting casualties are not considered murders. Partially due to this reason, homicide rates in Latin America are higher than those in Afghanistan or Syria. A different definition of murder in these circumstances could change the rate significantly in some countries. Causes of death Also, noteworthy is that murders are usually not random events. In the United States, the circumstances of murders are most commonly arguments, followed by narcotics incidents and robberies. Additionally, murders are not a leading cause of death. Heart diseases, strokes and cancer pose a greater threat to life than violent crime.

Most violence in El Salvador has been attributed to gangs. After being one of the most violent societies worldwide, in 2023, the country’s homicide rate reached a low 2.4 per 100,000 population. The decline is the outcome of a security plan by government that has attacked gangs directly under a state of exception. Nearly 80,000 gang members have been incarcerated. For the past 30 years or so, Salvadoran authorities and politicians alike, have participated in negotiations with gangs to reduce violence and gain electoral support in exchange for benefits for their members. This research studies violence as the outcome from the activities by gangs, politicians and governments, their interactions, and communities intervening in the realization of these interactions. As most data required for explaining these processes is either inexistent or difficult to access, a hierarchical Bayesian model was implemented for the spatio-temporal evolution of homicide with random effects that account for omitted variables at the level of local areas and time periods. The results support the view that unobserved covariates related to the district patterns of homicide have evolved over time. Two cycles appear in the evolution of homicide over the period under study, one from 2003 through to 2012, and another starting in 2013 and still going on at the time of writing. This finding reinforces the view that timing of government-gang negotiations drove the behavior of homicide rates in El Salvador during 2002–2021 together with the growth and expansion of gangs as seen from clustering of high-risk districts over time. The incarceration of scores of members and collaborators has both incapacitated gangs as key producers of violence, and deterred other forms of crimes. As a next step, the government should build collective efficacy, in particular among disadvantaged communities, to restrain the formation of gang-like groups in the time to come.

Several countries located in Central America and the Caribbean registered some of the highest homicide rates in the Latin American region in 2023. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ranked first, with around 51.32 homicides committed per 100,000 inhabitants. Jamaica came in second with 49.44 homicides per 100,000 people. The source defines intentional homicide as the unlawful death inflicted upon a person with the intent to cause death or serious injury. When it comes to the total case count, Brazil was the Latin American country with the largest number of homicide victims. Central America and the falling rates El Salvador was commonly named the murder capital of the world for a few years. The inability of previous governments to control organized crime and gangs resulted in the highest homicide rate in the world for a couple of years. Nonetheless, the current administration and the measures applied during the emergency state had an incredibly positive impact in terms of the security of the Salvadorean citizens. But not only El Salvador has seen a considerable reduction in its murder rate in Central America. Honduras and Guatemala are also two great examples of crime reduction, introducing new policies, institutions, and changes to their judicial system to achieve better results. The Caribbean is still ridden by crime Some islands in the Caribbean are not only known as tax heavens, as some nations in the region are considered the main enablers of tax evasion in the world, but also for being ridden by crime. Haiti is one example of the still-rising levels of criminality. As a country with precarious conditions and extreme food insecurity, the homicide rate has been on the rise for almost four consecutive years. Another one is Jamaica, at the top of the Latin American ranking, that has also seen an increase in the youth involved in organized crime due to lack of employment and economic conditions.

El Salvador SV: Intentional Homicides: Female: per 100,000 Female data was reported at 15.691 Ratio in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 17.201 Ratio for 2015. El Salvador SV: Intentional Homicides: Female: per 100,000 Female data is updated yearly, averaging 13.372 Ratio from Dec 2005 (Median) to 2016, with 12 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 19.234 Ratio in 2011 and a record low of 6.569 Ratio in 2013. El Salvador SV: Intentional Homicides: Female: per 100,000 Female data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s El Salvador – Table SV.World Bank: Health Statistics. Intentional homicides, female are estimates of unlawful female homicides purposely inflicted as a result of domestic disputes, interpersonal violence, violent conflicts over land resources, intergang violence over turf or control, and predatory violence and killing by armed groups. Intentional homicide does not include all intentional killing; the difference is usually in the organization of the killing. Individuals or small groups usually commit homicide, whereas killing in armed conflict is usually committed by fairly cohesive groups of up to several hundred members and is thus usually excluded.; ; UN Office on Drugs and Crime's International Homicide Statistics database.; ;

In 2024, the highest homicide rate among 22 Latin American and Caribbean countries surveyed was in Haiti, with around 62 murders committed per 100,000 inhabitants. Trinidad and Tobago came in second, with a homicide rate of 46, while Honduras ranked seventh, with 25. In the same year, the lowest rate was recorded in El Salvador, with a homicide rate of 1.9 per 100,000 inhabitants. A violence-ridden region Violence and crime are some of the most pressing problems affecting Latin American society nowadays. More than 40 of the 50 most dangerous cities in the world are located in this region, as well as one of the twenty countries with the least peace in the world according to the Global Peace Index. Despite governments’ large spending on security and high imprisonment rates, drug and weapon trafficking, organized crime, and gangs have turned violence into an epidemic that affects the whole region and a solution to this issue appears to be hardly attainable. The cost of violence in Mexico Mexico stands out as an example of the great cost that violence inflicts upon a country, since beyond claiming human lives, it also affects everyday life and has a negative impact on the economy. Mexicans have a high perceived level of insecurity, as they do not only fear becoming victims of homicide, but also of other common crimes, such as assault or rape. Such fear prevents people from performing everyday activities, for instance, going out at night, taking a taxi or going to the movies or the theater. Furthermore, the economic toll of violence in Mexico is more than considerable. For example, the cost of homicide and violent crime amounted to 2099.8 and 1778.1 billion Mexican pesos in 2023, respectively.

Most violence in El Salvador has been attributed to gangs. After being one of the most violent societies worldwide, in 2023, the country’s homicide rate reached a low 2.4 per 100,000 population. The decline is the outcome of a security plan by government that has attacked gangs directly under a state of exception. Nearly 80,000 gang members have been incarcerated. For the past 30 years or so, Salvadoran authorities and politicians alike, have participated in negotiations with gangs to reduce violence and gain electoral support in exchange for benefits for their members. This research studies violence as the outcome from the activities by gangs, politicians and governments, their interactions, and communities intervening in the realization of these interactions. As most data required for explaining these processes is either inexistent or difficult to access, a hierarchical Bayesian model was implemented for the spatio-temporal evolution of homicide with random effects that account for omitted variables at the level of local areas and time periods. The results support the view that unobserved covariates related to the district patterns of homicide have evolved over time. Two cycles appear in the evolution of homicide over the period under study, one from 2003 through to 2012, and another starting in 2013 and still going on at the time of writing. This finding reinforces the view that timing of government-gang negotiations drove the behavior of homicide rates in El Salvador during 2002–2021 together with the growth and expansion of gangs as seen from clustering of high-risk districts over time. The incarceration of scores of members and collaborators has both incapacitated gangs as key producers of violence, and deterred other forms of crimes. As a next step, the government should build collective efficacy, in particular among disadvantaged communities, to restrain the formation of gang-like groups in the time to come.

El Salvador SV: Intentional Homicides: Male: per 100,000 Male data was reported at 158.417 Ratio in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 204.751 Ratio for 2015. El Salvador SV: Intentional Homicides: Male: per 100,000 Male data is updated yearly, averaging 120.800 Ratio from Dec 2005 (Median) to 2016, with 12 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 204.751 Ratio in 2015 and a record low of 77.353 Ratio in 2012. El Salvador SV: Intentional Homicides: Male: per 100,000 Male data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s El Salvador – Table SV.World Bank: Health Statistics. Intentional homicides, male are estimates of unlawful male homicides purposely inflicted as a result of domestic disputes, interpersonal violence, violent conflicts over land resources, intergang violence over turf or control, and predatory violence and killing by armed groups. Intentional homicide does not include all intentional killing; the difference is usually in the organization of the killing. Individuals or small groups usually commit homicide, whereas killing in armed conflict is usually committed by fairly cohesive groups of up to several hundred members and is thus usually excluded.; ; UN Office on Drugs and Crime's International Homicide Statistics database.; ;

In 2022, the feminicide rate per 100,000 women in El Salvador was estimated at approximately 1.60. Between 2014 and 2022, the figure dropped by around 2.10, though the decline followed an uneven course rather than a steady trajectory.

Most violence in El Salvador has been attributed to gangs. After being one of the most violent societies worldwide, in 2023, the country’s homicide rate reached a low 2.4 per 100,000 population. The decline is the outcome of a security plan by government that has attacked gangs directly under a state of exception. Nearly 80,000 gang members have been incarcerated. For the past 30 years or so, Salvadoran authorities and politicians alike, have participated in negotiations with gangs to reduce violence and gain electoral support in exchange for benefits for their members. This research studies violence as the outcome from the activities by gangs, politicians and governments, their interactions, and communities intervening in the realization of these interactions. As most data required for explaining these processes is either inexistent or difficult to access, a hierarchical Bayesian model was implemented for the spatio-temporal evolution of homicide with random effects that account for omitted variables at the level of local areas and time periods. The results support the view that unobserved covariates related to the district patterns of homicide have evolved over time. Two cycles appear in the evolution of homicide over the period under study, one from 2003 through to 2012, and another starting in 2013 and still going on at the time of writing. This finding reinforces the view that timing of government-gang negotiations drove the behavior of homicide rates in El Salvador during 2002–2021 together with the growth and expansion of gangs as seen from clustering of high-risk districts over time. The incarceration of scores of members and collaborators has both incapacitated gangs as key producers of violence, and deterred other forms of crimes. As a next step, the government should build collective efficacy, in particular among disadvantaged communities, to restrain the formation of gang-like groups in the time to come.

Most violence in El Salvador has been attributed to gangs. After being one of the most violent societies worldwide, in 2023, the country’s homicide rate reached a low 2.4 per 100,000 population. The decline is the outcome of a security plan by government that has attacked gangs directly under a state of exception. Nearly 80,000 gang members have been incarcerated. For the past 30 years or so, Salvadoran authorities and politicians alike, have participated in negotiations with gangs to reduce violence and gain electoral support in exchange for benefits for their members. This research studies violence as the outcome from the activities by gangs, politicians and governments, their interactions, and communities intervening in the realization of these interactions. As most data required for explaining these processes is either inexistent or difficult to access, a hierarchical Bayesian model was implemented for the spatio-temporal evolution of homicide with random effects that account for omitted variables at the level of local areas and time periods. The results support the view that unobserved covariates related to the district patterns of homicide have evolved over time. Two cycles appear in the evolution of homicide over the period under study, one from 2003 through to 2012, and another starting in 2013 and still going on at the time of writing. This finding reinforces the view that timing of government-gang negotiations drove the behavior of homicide rates in El Salvador during 2002–2021 together with the growth and expansion of gangs as seen from clustering of high-risk districts over time. The incarceration of scores of members and collaborators has both incapacitated gangs as key producers of violence, and deterred other forms of crimes. As a next step, the government should build collective efficacy, in particular among disadvantaged communities, to restrain the formation of gang-like groups in the time to come.

Robberies were the type of property crime that decreased the least in El Salvador in 2020, in comparison to the previous year. During the onset year of the COVID-19 pandemic, 16.4 percent fewer robbery cases were reported to the Salvadoran police. In turn, the crime against property that registered the largest decrease was theft or robbery of vehicles transporting goods, with an almost 60 percent drop.

The Central American nation with the highest prison occupancy rate, as of April 2025, was Guatemala, when the level stood at almost 300 percent of its official capacity. Nicaragua followed with 177.6 percent of occupancy level. The lowest prison occupancy rate was found in Belize, which, with 67 percent, was the only country whose prison system was not overcrowded. That year, El Salvador had the highest prison population rate in Central America.

In 2023, the victimization rate in El Salvador stood at approximately 14 percent. Between 1996 and 2023, the figure dropped by around 42 percentage points, though the decline followed an uneven course rather than a steady trajectory.

In 2023, the percentage of the population aged over 18 who is very afraid of being a victim of crime in El Salvador was estimated at approximately 12 percent. Between 2007 and 2023, the figure dropped by around 29 percentage points, though the decline followed an uneven course rather than a steady trajectory.

The number of thefts registered in El Salvador decreased by almost half the cases from 2011 to 2022. During that last year, the number of crimes of this category was 9,172 registered cases.

As of February 2025, El Salvador had the highest prisoner rate worldwide, with over 1,600 prisoners per 100,000 of the national population. Cuba, Rwanda, Turkmenistan, and the United States, rounded out the top five countries with the highest rate of incarceration. Homicides in El Salvador Interestingly, El Salvador, which long had the highest global homicide rates, has dropped out of the top 20 after a high number of gang members have been incarcerated. A high number of the countries with the highest homicide rate are located in Latin America. Prisoners in the United StatesThe United States is home to the largest number of prisoners worldwide. More than 1.8 million people were incarcerated in the U.S. at the beginning of 2025. In China, the estimated prison population totaled 1.69 million people that year. Other nations had far fewer prisoners. The largest share of the U.S. prisoners in federal correctional facilities were of African-American origin. As of 2020, there were 345,500 black, non-Hispanic prisoners, compared to 327,300 white, non-Hispanic inmates. The U.S. states with the largest number of prisoners in 2022 were Texas, California, and Florida. Over 160,000 prisoners in state facilities were sentenced for rape or sexual assault, which was the most common cause of imprisonment. The second most common was murder, followed by aggravated or simple assault.