In Europe, the Baltic countries of Latvia and Lithuania had the highest and third highest homicide rates respectively in 2022. Latvia had the highest rate at over four per 100,000 inhabitants. Meanwhile, the lowest homicide rate was found in Liechtenstein, with zero murders The most dangerous country worldwide Saint Kitts and Nevis is the world's most dangerous country to live in in terms of murder rate. The Caribbean country had a homicide rate of 65 per 100,000 inhabitants. Nine of the 10 countries with the highest murder rates worldwide are located in Latin America and the Caribbean. Whereas Celaya in Mexico was listed as the city with the highest murder rate worldwide, Colima in Mexico was the city with the highest homicide rate in Latin America, so the numbers vary from source to source. Nevertheless, several Mexican cities rank among the deadliest in the world when it comes to intentional homicides. 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 countries such as Ukraine or the DR Congo. A different definition of murder in these circumstances could change the rate significantly.

The average for 2017 based on 24 countries was 1.4 homicides per 100,000 people. The highest value was in Lithuania: 4.5 homicides per 100,000 people and the lowest value was in Luxembourg: 0.3 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.

The United States had, by far, the highest homicide rate of the G7 countries between 2000 and 2023. In 2023, it reached 5.76 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, a decrease from 6.78 in 2021. By comparison, Canada, the G7 nation with the second-highest homicide rate, had 1.98 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023. Out of each G7 nation, Japan had the lowest rate with 0.23 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants.

The statistic above provides information about the homicide rate for the most populous city in each European country in 2012. In 2012, the homicide rate in Berlin stood at * per 100,000 population.

In 2025, Pietermaritzburg in South Africa ranked as the world's most dangerous city with a crime rate of 82 per 100,000 inhabitants. Five of the 10 cities with the highest crime rates worldwide are found in South Africa. The list does not include countries where war and conflict exist. South Africa dominates crime statistics When looking at crime rates, among the 10 most dangerous cities in the world, half of them are found in South Africa. The country is struggling with extremely high levels of inequality, and is struggling with high levels of crime and power outages, harming the country's economy and driving more people into unemployment and poverty. Crime in Latin America On the other hand, when looking at murder rates, Latin America dominates the list of the world's most dangerous countries. Violence in Latin America is caused in great part by drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, and gang wars.

Despite fluctuations, namely during the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of homicides in Portugal has generally decreased. In 2024, the Portuguese police registered 89 homicides consummated in the country, down from 97 manslaughter cases reported two years earlier. There were 322 involuntary homicides due to traffic accidents in Portugal, and 24 homicides that happened under other circumstances, such as negligence. Manslaughter cases and incarceration rates in Portugal Portugal had one of lowest homicide rates in Europe as of 2022, at 0.72 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. The county of the nation’s capital, Lisbon, registered 23 voluntary manslaughter cases in 2024, which represented an increase in comparison to the previous year, but a decrease when compared to pre-pandemic times. In Portugal, the incarceration rate has also overall been on a downward trend. In 2023, there were 118 people incarcerated per 100,000 inhabitants. This rate, however, has risen since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was in 2015 that the incarceration rate peaked at 137.1. Despite decreasing homicide numbers, domestic violence is increasing in Portugal Domestic violence, which triggers multiple manslaughter cases in Portugal, has been increasing over recent years. In 2023, there were almost 30,500 recorded incidences of domestic violence, which represents a rise compared to pandemic and pre-pandemic years. This type of crime takes place in the domestic environment and between people with a degree of kinship. In 2023, 28 percent of cases occurred between spouses or partners, while seven percent of recorded occurrences concerned ex-spouses or ex-partners. In the same year, 27 percent of domestic violence victims were children or stepchildren of the accused, while the parents or stepparents of the alleged criminals were the victims of domestic violence in over seven percent of cases.

The Balkan countries Montenegro and Albania have the highest murder rates with cases involving firearms in Europe. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, Sweden came third. The Scandinavian country has seen increasing levels of gang-related violence in recent years.

In 2021, Liechtenstein had the highest female homicide rate in Europe, with an estimated 5.08 women per 100,000 falling victims to intentional homicide. However, this number is skewed due to Liechtenstein's very small population; in real terms, this equates to one female homicide in Liechtenstein in 2021. For more populous countries, the next countries on the list are six of Eastern Europe's seven former-Soviet states, with Latvia and Russia having the highest rates of intentional female homicide in Europe (Estonia is the outlier).

La moyenne pour 2017 était de 1.7 homicides per 100,000 people. La valeur la plus élevée était au Fédération de Russie: 9.2 homicides per 100,000 people et la valeur la plus basse était au Luxembourg: 0.3 homicides per 100,000 people. Vous trouverez ci-dessous un graphique pour tous les pays où les données sont disponibles.

In Social-Economic Change and its Impact on Violence: Homicide History of Qing China, Zhiwu Chen, Kaixiang Peng and Lijun Zhu offer the first estimate of interpersonal homicide rates of China for the period 1661–1898. The researchers find that the annual homicide rate ranged between 0.35 and 1.47 per 100,000 inhabitants during that period, a low level unmatched by Western Europe until the late 19th century. China’s homicide rate rose steadily from 1661 to 1821 but declined gradually thereafter until the turn of the century.

In Europe in 2019, England and Wales had the highest reported rate of serious assaults per 100,000 inhabitants, with almost 930 reported incidents. Belgium had the second highest rate with close to 560. Romania had the lowest rate of reported serious assaults, with only 1.46 per 100,000 inhabitant, followed by Lithuania and Albania. Despite this low rate of assault, Lithuania, Albania and Romania had some of the highest homicide rates in Europe, suggesting that there is a discrepancy in how often assaults are reported in these countries, or the methodology behind data collection.

The average for 2017 based on 65 countries was 1.8 kidnappings per 100,000 people. The highest value was in Belgium: 10.3 kidnappings per 100,000 people and the lowest value was in Bermuda: 0 kidnappings per 100,000 people. The indicator is available from 2003 to 2017. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

The crime rate in Germany for 2022 was 6,762 crimes per 100,000 people, making it the first time in seven years in which the crime rate rose compared to the year before. Between 2000 and 2004 the crime rate in Germany increased from 7,625 to 8,037, before declining to 7,253 by 2010. The years between 2010 and 2015 saw an increase in the crime rate, but after 2015, the recent trend of declining crime started, leading to the generally low figures seen in the most recent years. While the uptick in the crime rate in 2022 marks a negative turn compared with these years, the overall crime rate is still much lower on average than in previous decades.

Crime rate highest in cities Germany’s sixteen states are made up of thirteen federal states, and three city states; Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen. These three city states had the highest regional crime rates in Germany, due to only covering urban areas which usually have higher crime rates than rural areas. The large federal state of Bavaria, in the southeast of Germany, had the lowest crime rate in the country at 4,698 crimes per 100,000 people in 2020. Baden-Württemberg, home to the black forest and the city of Stuttgart had the second-lowest crime rate per 100 thousand people in this year, at 4,944.

From 2013 to 2019, the United States had a gun homicide rate of **** per 100,000 residents, the most out of any other G7 country. In comparison, Canada had a gun homicide rate of **** per 100,000 residents while France had a gun homicide rate of *** per 100,000 residents.

The number of murders declined considerably in Czechia in the observed period. Although the murder count initially grew from *** in 1991 to a high of *** in 1998, this figure decreased to *** murders in 2023. The lowest number of murders was recorded in 2021 at *** murders in the whole year. Czechia’s criminal situation The Czech Criminal Code defines murder as the intentional killing of another person, with a minimum sentencing of eight to ten years. Such a criminal act is not very common in Czechia. After all, in 2022, the total number of registered criminal acts in Czechia amounted to *******, so the proportion of murders is small.The number of registered crimes is related to the criminal code of each country. However, Czechia was among the ten countries with the highest incarceration rate in Europe in 2022, which in this case is defined as the number of prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants. The high incarceration rate in Czechia is sometimes attributed to long prison sentences, meaning that people accumulate in prisons despite fewer people being sentenced than in other countries lower on the list. Is Czechia a safe country? Despite the high incarceration rate, Czechia is considered to be a very safe country. As of 2023, it was the **** most peaceful country ranked according to the Global Peace Index, which assesses the safety and security of society. It ranked above some fellow European countries like Germany, Finland, and the Netherlands.

Between 2021 and 2024, the homicide rate for people of the Black ethnic group was **** homicides per million population in England and Wales, far higher than that of the white ethnic group, which was *** victims per million population for the same time period.

Knives or other sharp objects were involved in ** percent of homicides in England and Wales in 2023/24, the most of any method of killing. Homicides which involved hitting or kicking without a weapon made up **** percent of homicides, while shootings were identified as the method in *** percent of homicides. Overall, there were *** homicides in this reporting year, which was slightly lower than in the previous year, when there were ***, but noticeably higher than in 2014/15, when there were ***. Firearm homicides rare in England and Wales In 2023/24, there were *** knife homicides in England and Wales, compared with *** in 2021/22, which was the highest figure recently. By comparison, homicides which involved the use of a firearm were far less common, with just ** in the 2023/24 reporting year. Due to strict gun laws and low levels of ownership, the UK contrasts starkly with the United States, which has struggled with high levels of gun violence. Although some specialist police officers in England and Wales are licensed to carry firearms, the majority of police officers are unarmed. In 2023/24, for example, there were just ***** armed police, out of around ******* police officers. Overall knife crime on the rise Like many other types of crime, knife crime offences in the ***** started to decline at the start of the decade before creeping up again from 2014 onwards, reaching almost ****** in 2019/20. In London, where much of the media’s attention on knife crime is focused, there were ****** knife crime offences alone in 2019/20. Although this fell during subsequent reporting years, which were influenced by COVID-19 restrictions, it remains to be seen if the trend will continue. In 2023/24, the number of knife offences in the capital was higher than in any other year since 2019/20.

In 2022, the number of shootings in Sweden reached 391, the highest observed in the period between 2017 and 2023. In 2023, the number fell slightly. Moreover, 53 of the 363 shootings that year were fatal, nine fewer than the previous year.

Rising gang-related violence

Sweden has experienced a rising number of shooting episodes related to the country's criminal gangs in recent years. The violence has usually been concentrated to the larger cities Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö, but recently also smaller towns have experienced episodes of shooting and even bombings. Indeed, There has been a steady increase in homicides through shootings over the past decade.

Violent crime in Sweden

Overall, Sweden's total number of homicides increased from 2012 to 2014, but remained relatively stable since, reaching 116 in 2022. The country's crime rate reached 13,800 per 100,000 inhabitants that year.

The most recent report of the Italian Ministry of the Interior reveals that between January 2023 and July 2024, 499 homicides were committed in Italy. The number of homicides has recorded a decreasing trend since 2011. Overall, about 2.3 million criminal acts were reported in Italy in 2023. Femicide Femicide, a homicide in which a woman is killed for gender-based reasons, poses a serious problem around the world. In 2018, roughly one in six Italians believed that femicide was on the rise. Women, victims of homicide, are often related to the culprit; in 2022, 74 women in Italy were killed by their partner. Crime in Italy In 2023, the most common crime in Italy was theft. Law enforcement corps reported one million cases of this delinquency to the juridical authority, with the highest theft rate in the Metropolitan city of Milan.