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.

Several countries located in Central America and the Caribbean registered some of the highest homicide rates in the Latin American region in 2022. Jamaica ranked first, with around 53.34 homicides committed per 100,000 inhabitants. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines came second, with 40.41 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 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, 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.

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.

Saint Kitts and Nevis saw a murder rate of 65 per 100,000 inhabitants, making it the most dangerous country for this kind of crime worldwide as of 2023. 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. Meanwhile, Celaya 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.

In 2024, Colima in Mexico ranked as the world's most dangerous city with a homicide rate of 140 per 100,000 inhabitants. Seven of the 10 cities with the highest murder rates worldwide are found in Mexico. The list does not include countries where war and conflict exist. Latin America dominates murder statistics Except for Mandela Bay, all the cities on the list are found in Latin America. Latin America also dominate 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. Crime in South Africa Mandela Bay in South Africa is the only city outside Latin America among the 10 most dangerous cities worldwide. 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.

Some of the most populous countries in Latin America were also the nations that register the highest number of murders. Brazil was the country with the largest number of intentional homicides in the region with 44,367 victims. Mexico came in second, with 33,287 homicide victims, followed by Colombia with over 13,000 victims.

Jamaica is one of the most violent countries in the Caribbean. In 2024, there were approximately 40.1 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in the island nation. This was one of the highest homicide rate in Latin America and the Caribbean that year.

Femicide is an homicide of women murdered for reasons of gender. This is the most extreme form of violence against women.

Femicides are serious problems in Latin America and the Caribbean. According to data from CEPTAL in 2021, 11 Latin American countries registered a rate equal to or greater than one victim of femicide or femicide for every 100,000 women. The highest femicide rates are in Honduras (4.6 cases per 100,000 women), the Dominican Republic (2.7 cases per 100,000 women) and El Salvador (2.4 cases per 100,000 women).

Latin America is the most violent region in the world, with many countries also suffering from high levels of criminality and the presence of powerful criminal organizations. Identifying government responses that improve citizen security is imperative. Existing research argues that improving intergovernmental coordination helps the state combat criminality, but has limited its analysis to political factors that affect coordination. I study the impact of increasing intergovernmental coordination between law enforcement agencies. Using the generalized synthetic control method, original data on the staggered implementation of a police reform that increased intergovernmental police coordination and detailed data on criminal organizations and criminality in Guanajuato, Mexico, I find that the reform weakened criminal organizations and reduced violent crime, but increased violence.

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.

In 2025, Trinidad and Tobago had the highest press freedom score among countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Caribbean nation scored ***** points on a scale from 1 to 100. Jamaica followed with a score of ***** points. The index presents an overview of the plurality and independence of the media and how safe and free it is for journalists to do their job, with lower scores indicating a worse situation for the press and higher scores a better one. Press freedom laggards in the LATAM region Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela, and Honduras had the worst results in the region in 2025 - their scores stood below ** points. Unsurprisingly, due to the political situation in these four countries, journalism there experiences high restrictions imposed by the governments in order to stifle access to information. In one country, private press is actually prohibited by constitution – for that reason Cuba has seen only the lowest press freedom scores year after year. Honduras, one of the lowest-ranked countries on the index, has been noted to see declining press freedom scores since the coup d’etat in 2009. All in all, it comes as no surprise that trust in mass media in Latin America keeps deteriorating. Dangers of being a journalist in Latin America Mexico is considered the most dangerous country for journalist as it ranks high in terms of number of deaths not only in the Latin America region, but also the highest in the world. In 2022, Mexico was found to be the deadliest country for journalists worldwide, with more than ** representatives of the press being killed that year. Although the number dropped to * killings in 2024, the country still regularly ranks among the riskiest for media professionals. Colombia follows in the regional ranking, yet its figures remain significantly lower than those reported in Mexico.

In 2023, the number of homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in Guyana was approximately 19.12. The number of people murdered in the South American country amounted to 158 in 2023, up from 131 victims reported two years earlier.

Objectives: To estimate typologies of Intimate Partner Violence against women in some Latin-American countries.Methods: Multistage sampling survey included women aged 15 to 49 (n = 63,321). Latent class analysis was estimated, including psychological, physical, and sexual violence and control.Results: The three-class model had a better fit. 1) The high-level IPV class (23%) comprised those suffering high levels of violence. They had higher education and wealth index, lived in urban settings, and their husbands used alcohol more. 2) The middle-level IPV class (45%) suffered high levels of control but low levels of other violence. They justified IPV more than other classes and this group had a high proportion of women without education. 3) Women in the non-IPV class (32%) did not report IPV.Conclusion: Three typologies of IPV were found: high-level, middle-level, and non-IPV. Policies should create screening, early prevention strategies, and programs based on these typologies. The high-level IPV group can benefit from intense legal and mental health interventions, including alcohol reduction and women’s empowerment. The middle-level IPV group could benefit from interventions to reduce violence justification and increase women’s education.

BackgroundViolence against women perpetrated by an intimate partner (IPV) is prevalent in low- and middle-income countries (LAMIC). The aim was to describe the attitudes of women and men towards perpetration of physical violence to women by an intimate partner, in a large group of low- and middle-income countries.Methods and FindingsWe used data from Round Four of the UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys. Attitudes towards IPV against women were assessed by a study-specific scale asking if ‘wife beating’ is justified in any of five circumstances.Overall, data from 39 countries (all had data from women and 13 countries also had data from men) were included in the analyses. The proportions of women who held attitudes that ‘wife-beating’ was justified in any of the five circumstances varied widely among countries from 2.0% (95% CI 1.7;2.3) in Argentina to 90.2% (95% CI 88.9;91.5) in Afghanistan. Similarly, among men it varied from 5.0% (95% CI 4.0;6.0) in Belarus to 74.5% (95% CI 72.5;76.4) in the Central African Republic. The belief that ‘wife-beating’ is acceptable was most common in Africa and South Asia, and least common in Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean. In general this belief was more common among people in disadvantaged circumstances, including being a member of a family in the lowest household wealth quintile, living in a rural area and having limited formal education. Young adults were more likely to accept physical abuse by a man of his intimate partner than those who were older, but people who had never partnered were less likely to have these attitudes.ConclusionsViolence against women is an international priority and requires a multicomponent response. These data provide evidence that strategies should include major public education programs to change attitudes about the acceptability of IPV against women, and that these should be addressed to women and girls as well as to boys and men.

The number of intentional homicides registered in Suriname has remained well below 40 between 2017 and 2019, but reached 55 in 2020. In 2005 the number of people that were intentionally killed reached 69, making it the deadliest year for the South American country in the indicated time period. As of 2023, the number of intentional homicides has decreased to 41.

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.

With increasing violence, political, and economic instability in Latin America, there is a record number of migrants crossing the U.S. southern border. Latin American migrants are often exposed to traumatic events before leaving their home country and during migration. While prior studies document that sex may play a role in types of traumatic exposure, few studies compare differences in traumatic exposure by sex and place of occurrence of recently arrived immigrants. Addressing this gap, we recruited 120 adults who had recently crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. Participants completed questionnaires to characterize trauma exposures in their home country and during their migration journey. Results found that men reported higher levels of exposure to combat situations, while women were more likely to experience sexual assault. Both combat exposure and sexual traumas occurred more often in home countries than during migration. More than half of the full sample reported being threatened with a firearm. These data confirm gender differences in type of trauma and that exposures in the country of origin may provide the impetus to migrate.

Stab Proof Vest Market Outlook

The global stab proof vest market size was valued at approximately $1.2 billion in 2023 and is expected to reach around $2.3 billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 7.2% during the forecast period. The increasing need for personal safety and security, driven by rising crime rates and heightened awareness, serves as a significant growth factor for this market.

One of the primary growth drivers for the stab proof vest market is the escalating threat of knife crimes and violent assaults in urban settings. Governments and law enforcement agencies are increasingly investing in advanced personal protective equipment to ensure the safety of officers. This has led to a surge in demand for stab proof vests, particularly those made from high-performance materials such as Kevlar and Ultra-High-Molecular-Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE). Technological advancements have made these vests lighter, more comfortable, and more effective, which further boosts their adoption.

The rise in public awareness about personal safety has also significantly contributed to market growth. Civilians, in addition to military and law enforcement personnel, are increasingly purchasing stab proof vests for personal use. This trend is particularly noticeable in regions with high crime rates. Marketing campaigns and increased media coverage of violent incidents have played crucial roles in educating the public about the benefits of stab proof vests, thus driving market expansion.

Military applications represent another significant segment of the stab proof vest market. Armed forces around the world are continuously upgrading their protective gear to shield soldiers from multiple threats, including knife attacks. The ongoing geopolitical tensions and military expenditures in various countries are expected to further stimulate the demand for these vests. Additionally, the integration of stab proof technology with ballistic protection is becoming a standard requirement in modern military gear.

Regionally, North America leads the market due to high crime rates and substantial investments in law enforcement and military sectors. Europe follows closely, driven by stringent safety regulations and a strong focus on personal security. The Asia Pacific region is expected to witness the highest growth rate during the forecast period, owing to increasing crime rates and rising defense budgets in countries like India and China. Latin America and the Middle East & Africa are also anticipated to show significant growth due to improving economic conditions and increased government spending on law enforcement.

Material Type Analysis

The material type segment of the stab proof vest market can be broadly categorized into Kevlar, Steel, Ultra-High-Molecular-Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE), and others. Kevlar has long been the material of choice for stab proof vests, owing to its exceptional strength-to-weight ratio and proven effectiveness in stopping knife attacks. The material is lightweight, flexible, and capable of dissipating the energy from a stab to prevent penetration, making it a popular choice among law enforcement and military personnel. Continuous innovations have made Kevlar even more efficient, further driving its demand.

Steel, though less common than Kevlar, is another vital material in the stab proof vest market. Steel plates are often used in conjunction with other materials to provide additional protection. While heavier and less flexible than Kevlar, steel offers unparalleled resistance to stab attacks, making it an excellent option for situations requiring maximum protection. The use of advanced alloys and manufacturing techniques has made modern steel plates lighter and more practical for use in personal protective equipment.

Ultra-High-Molecular-Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) is gaining traction in the stab proof vest market due to its remarkable properties. This material is lighter than both Kevlar and steel while offering comparable levels of protection. UHMWPE is also highly resistant to chemicals and UV radiation, making it suitable for various environmental conditions. The increasing adoption of UHMWPE vests among law enforcement agencies and military units underscores its growing importance in the market.

Other materials used in stab proof vests include advanced composites and hybrid materials that combine the strengths of Kevlar, steel, and UHMWPE. These materials are often used to create multi-threat vests that provide protection against both stab and ballistic threats. The ongoing re

Brazil led the list with a total of 4,390 kidnapping cases in the latest available data. Ecuador followed with 1,246 occurrences in 2022. On the flip side, there was only three reported kidnapping in the Antigua and Barbuda during that year. Homicides, another recurrent problem in Latin America Among the region's prevalent offenses, intentional homicide emerged as one of the main concerns in the region. Nonetheless, the rates vary among the different countries. Brazil leads the ranking of the most number of homicides in Latin America, as well as being the most populated country by far. On the other hand, Jamaica holds the top position according to the homicide rate, reporting nearly 61 instances per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023. Nevertheless, even with these varying homicide rates across countries, four out of five of the world's most perilous urban centers are situated in Mexico, with Colima leading the pack at a 2024 homicide rate of 140 per 100,000 inhabitants.

Cost of violence in Central America Following criminal acts, the responsibility for addressing the consequences falls squarely on the government, causing government expenditure to surge, called the cost of violence. Notably, Panama is more severely impacted in Central America, with the economic cost of violence per inhabitant accounting for over 3,771 U.S. dollars in 2022. In terms of a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), El Salvador takes the first place with a value of 15 percent of their GDP.

A research project developed by the Trans Murder Monitoring (TMM) revealed that at least 235 trans or gender-diverse people were murdered in Latin America from October 2022 to September 2023. The highest number of victims was reported in Brazil, with 100 homicides. Mexico was the second deadliest country for trans people in Latin America, having registered 52 murders in the same period.