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.

In 2023, around 3,640.56 violent crimes per 100,000 residents were reported in Oakland, California. This made Oakland the most dangerous city in the United States in that year. Four categories of violent crimes were used: murder and non-negligent manslaughter; forcible rape; robbery; and aggravated assault. Only cities with a population of at least 200,000 were considered.

In 2022, the New Orleans-Metairie, LA metro area recorded the highest homicide rate of U.S. cities with a population over 250,000, at **** homicides per 100,000 residents, followed by the Memphis, TN-MS-AR metro area. However, homicide data was not recorded in all U.S. metro areas, meaning that there may be some cities with a higher homicide rate. St. Louis St. Louis, which had a murder and nonnegligent manslaughter rate of **** in 2022, is the second-largest city by population in Missouri. It is home to many famous treasures, such as the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team, Washington University in St. Louis, the Saint Louis Zoo, and the renowned Gateway Arch. It is also home to many corporations, such as Monsanto, Arch Coal, and Emerson Electric. The economy of St. Louis is centered around business and healthcare, and boasts ten Fortune 500 companies. Crime in St. Louis Despite all of this, St. Louis suffers from high levels of crime and violence. As of 2023, it was listed as the seventh most dangerous city in the world as a result of their extremely high murder rate. Not only does St. Louis have one of the highest homicide rates in the United States, it also reports one of the highest numbers of violent crimes. Despite high crime levels, the GDP of the St. Louis metropolitan area has been increasing since 2001.

In 2024, Pietermaritzburg (South Africa) ranked first in the crime index among African cities, with a rating of roughly ** index points. The six most dangerous areas on the continent were South African cities. The index estimates the overall level of crime in a specific territory. According to the score, crime levels are classified as very high (over 80), high (60-80), moderate (40-60), low (20-40), and very low (below 20). South Africa’s crime situation According to the crime index ranking, ************ was the most dangerous country in Africa in 2023, followed by ***************** and ******. Murder and organized crime are particularly widespread in South Africa. In 2023, the country had one of the highest murder rates globally, registering around ** homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. Moreover, South Africa’s crime scene is also characterized by the presence of organized criminal activities, for which the country ranked third in Africa. Reflecting these high levels of crime, a survey conducted in 2023 showed that around ** percent of South Africans were worried about crime and violence in the country. Crime risks in Africa The African continent hosts some of the most dangerous places worldwide. In 2023, *********** and the ******************************** were the least peaceful countries in Africa, according to the Global Peace Index. Worldwide, they ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, behind Afghanistan, Yemen, and Syria. Terrorism is a leading type of crime perpetrated in Africa. Home to Boko Aram, Nigeria is among the countries with the highest number of terrorism-related deaths globally. Furthermore, Burkina Faso had the highest number of fatalities in the world. Human trafficking is also widespread, predominantly in West Africa. The most common forms of exploitation of victims of trafficking in persons are forced labor and sexual exploitation.

The following datasets contain the crime rate for cities in the United States. The four datasets are separated based on population ranges.

FILE DESCRIPTION

File names: - 'crime_40 _60.csv': dataset for population ranging from 40,000 to 60,000. - 'crime_60 _100.csv': dataset for population ranging from 60,000 to 100,000. - 'crime_100 _250.csv': dataset for population ranging from 100,000 to 250,000. - 'crime_250 _plus.csv': dataset for population greater than 250,000.

COLUMN DESCRIPTION

For file: crime_40 _60.csv: - 'states': name of the state - 'cities': name of the city - 'population': population of the city - 'violent_crime': violent crime - 'murder': murder and nonnegligent manslaughter - 'rape': forcible rape - 'robbery': robbery - 'agrv_ The following datasets contain the crime rate for cities in the United States. The four datasets are separated based on population ranges.

FILE DESCRIPTION

File names: - 'crime_40 _60.csv': dataset for population ranging from 40,000 to 60,000. - 'crime_60 _100.csv': dataset for population ranging from 60,000 to 100,000. - 'crime_100 _250.csv': dataset for population ranging from 100,000 to 250,000. - 'crime_250 _plus.csv': dataset for population greater than 250,000.

COLUMN DESCRIPTION

For file: crime_40 _60.csv: - 'states': name of the state - 'cities': name of the city - 'population': population of the city - 'violent_crime': violent crime - 'murder': murder and nonnegligent manslaughter - 'rape': forcible rape - 'robbery': robbery - 'agrv_ assault': agrv_ assault - 'prop_crime': property crime - 'burglary': burglary - 'larceny': larceny theft - 'vehicle_theft': motor vehicle theft

crime_60 _100.csv: - 'states': name of the state - 'cities': name of the city - 'population': population of the city - 'violent_crime': violent crime - 'murder': murder and nonnegligent manslaughter - 'rape': forcible rape - 'robbery': robbery - 'agrv_ assault': agrv_ assault - 'prop_crime': property crime - 'burglary': burglary - 'larceny': larceny theft - 'vehicle_theft': motor vehicle theft

crime_100 _250.csv: - 'states': name of the state - 'cities': name of the city - 'population': population of the city - 'violent_crime': violent crime - 'murder': murder and nonnegligent manslaughter - 'rape': forcible rape - 'robbery': robbery - 'agrv_ assault': agrv_ assault - 'prop_crime': property crime - 'burglary': burglary - 'larceny': larceny theft - 'vehicle_theft': motor vehicle theft

crime_250 _plus.csv: - 'states': name of the state - 'cities': name of the city - 'population': population of the city - 'total_crime': total crime - 'murder': murder and nonnegligent manslaughter - 'rape': forcible rape - 'robbery': robbery - 'agrv_ assault': agrv_ assault - 'total_violent _crime': total violent crime - 'prop_crime': property crime - 'burglary': burglary - 'larceny': larceny theft - 'vehicle_theft': motor vehicle theft - 'tot_prop _crime': total property crime - 'arson': arson

Photo by David von Diemar on Unsplash

Comprehensive crime statistics for Los Angeles County's most dangerous neighborhoods including violent crime rates, property crime rates, gang activity, and annual victimization chances by neighborhood for 2024-2025.

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.

This table contains data on the rate of violent crime (crimes per 1,000 population) for California, its regions, counties, cities and towns. Crime and population data are from the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Uniform Crime Reports. Rates above the city/town level include data from city, university and college, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies. The table is part of a series of indicators in the Healthy Communities Data and Indicators Project of the Office of Health Equity. Ten percent of all deaths in young California adults aged 15-44 years are related to assault and homicide. In 2010, California law enforcement agencies reported 1,809 murders, 8,331 rapes, and over 95,000 aggravated assaults. African Americans in California are 11 times more likely to die of assault and homicide than Whites. More information about the data table and a data dictionary can be found in the About/Attachments section.

Crime severity index (violent, non-violent, youth) and weighted clearance rates (violent, non-violent), Canada, provinces, territories and Census Metropolitan Areas, 1998 to 2024.

Number and rate (per 100,000 population) of homicide victims, Canada and Census Metropolitan Areas, 1981 to 2024.

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.

In 2024, the Mexican city of Colima was the second most deadly city in the world, with a murder rate of ****** per 100,000 inhabitants. * out of the top 10 cities with over ******* habitants and the highest homicide rates were located in Mexico.

The graph illustrates the murder rate in the United States from 1985 to 2025. The x-axis represents the years, labeled with two-digit abbreviations from '85 to '25, while the y-axis shows the annual murder rate per 100,000 individuals. Throughout this 41-year period, the murder rate fluctuates between a high of 10.66 in 1991 and a low of 4.7 in 2014. Overall, the data reveals a significant downward trend in the murder rate from the mid-1980s, reaching its lowest point in the mid-2010s, followed by slight increases in the most recent years.

Introduction

You are looking at Crime Index 2022 Mid-Year. These indices are historical and they are published periodically.

Crime Index is an estimation of overall level of crime in a given city or a country. We consider crime levels lower than 20 as very low, crime levels between 20 and 40 as being low, crime levels between 40 and 60 as being moderate, crime levels between 60 and 80 as being high and finally crime levels higher than 80 as being very high.

Safety index is, on the other way, quite opposite of crime index. If the city has a high safety index, it is considered very safe.

Is this much less accurate than governmental statistics? In some countries, governments have a detailed statistics based on a number of reported crimes per capita. Those surveys are particular good in comparing crime between two cities in that country, but are not so good in cross country comparison for the following reasons:

• People in some countries are much more likely to report a crime than in other countries
• Data could be forged by governmental institutions
• Data is not available for most of the world

Kindly give your upvotes👍 if you find this dataset worthy of experience. Good luck Thank you😁

This research study analysed the crime rate spatially and it examined the relationship between crime and spatial factors in Saudi Arabia. It reviewed the related literature that has utilised crime mapping techniques, such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing (RS); these techniques are a basic part of effectively helping security and authority agencies by providing them with a clear perception of crime patterns and a surveillance direction to track and tackle crime. This study analysed the spatial relationships between crime and place, immigration, changes in urban areas, weather and transportation networks. The research study was divided into six parts to investigate the correlation between crime and these factors. The first part of the research study examined the relationship between crime and place across the 13 provinces of Saudi Arabia using GIS techniques based on population density in order to identify and visualise the spatial distributions of national and regional crime rates for drug crimes, thefts, murders, assaults, and alcohol-related and ‘outrageous crimes’ (offences against Islam) over a 10-year period from 2003 to 2012. Social disorganisation theory was employed to guide the study and explain the diversity in crime patterns across the country. The highest rates of overall crimes were identified in the Northern Borders Province and Jizan, which are located in the northern and southern regions of the country, respectively; the eastern area of the country was found to have the lowest crime rate. Most drug offences occurred in the Northern Borders Province and Jizan; high rates of theft were recorded in the Northern Borders Province, Jouf Province and Makkah Province, while the highest rates of homicide occurred in Asir Province. The second part of the research study aimed to determine the trends of overall crime in relation to six crime categories: drug-related activity, theft, murder, assault, alcohol-related crimes and outrageous or sex-related crimes, in Saudi Arabia’s 13 provinces over a 10-year period from 2003 to 2012. The study analysed the spatial and temporal changes of criminal cases. Spatial changes were used to determine the differences over the time period of 2003–2012 to show the provincial rates of change for each crime category. Temporal changes were used to compute the trends of the overall crime rate and crimes in the six categories per 1,000 people per year. The results showed that the overall crime rate increased steadily until 2008; thereafter it decreased in all areas except for the Northern Borders Province and Jizan, which recorded the highest crime rates throughout the study period. We have explained that decrease in terms of changes in wages, support for the unemployed and service improvements, which were factors that previous studies also emphasised as being the primary cause for the decrease. This study includes a detailed discussion to contribute to the understanding of the changes in the crime rates in these categories throughout this period in the 13 provinces of Saudi Arabia. The third part of the research study aimed to explain the effects of immigration on the overall crime rate in the six most significant categories of crime in Saudi Arabia, which are drug-related activity, theft, murder, assault, alcohol-related crimes and outrageous crimes, during a 10-year period from 2003 to 2012, in all 13 administrative provinces. It also sought to identify the provinces most affected by the criminal activities of immigrants during this period. No positive association between immigrants and criminal cases was found. It was clearly visible that the highest rate of overall criminal activities was in the south, north and Makkah areas, where there is a high probability of illegal immigrants. This finding supports the basic criminological theory that areas with high levels of immigrants also experience high rates of crime. The study’s results provide recommendations to the Saudi government, policy-makers, decision-makers and immigration authorities, which could assist in reducing crimes perpetrated by immigrants. In the fourth part of the research study, urban areas were examined in relation to crime rates. Urban area expansion is one of the most critical types of worldwide change, and most urban areas are experiencing increased population growth and infrastructure development. Urban change leads to many changes in the daily activities of people living within an affected area. Many studies have suggested that urbanisation and crime are related. However, those studies focused on land uses, types of land use and urban forms, such as the physical features of neighbourhoods, roads, shopping centres and bus stations. It is very important for criminologists and urban planning decision-makers to understand the correlation between urban area expansion and crime. In this research, satellite images were used to measure urban expansion over a 10-year period; the study tested the correlations between these expansions and the number of criminal activities within these specific areas. The results show that there is a measurable relationship between urban expansion and criminal activities. The findings support the crime opportunity theory as one possibility, which suggests that population density and crime are conceptually related. Moreover, the results show that the correlations are stronger in areas that have undergone greater urban growth. This study did not evaluate many other factors that might affect the crime rate, such as information on the spatial details of the population, city planning, economic considerations, the distance from the city centre, the quality of neighbourhoods, and the number of police officers. However, this research will be of particular interest to those who aim to use remote sensing to study crime patterns. The fifth part of the research study investigated the impacts of weather on crime rates in two different cities: Riyadh and Makkah. While a number of studies have examined climate influences on crime and human behaviour by investigating the correlation between climate and weather elements, such as temperature, humidity and precipitation, and crime rates, few studies have focused on haze as a weather element and its correlation with crime. This research examined haze as a weather variable to investigate its effects on criminal activity and compare its effects with those of temperature and humidity. Monthly crime data and monthly weather records were used to build a regression model to predict crime cases based on three weather factors using temperature, humidity and haze values. This model was applied to two provinces in Saudi Arabia with different types of climates: Riyadh and Makkah. Riyadh Province is a desert area in which haze occurs approximately 17 days per month on average. Makkah Province is a coastal area where it is hazy an average of 4 days per month. A measurable relationship was found between each of these three variables and criminal activity. However, haze had a greater effect on theft, drug-related crimes and assault in Riyadh Province than temperature and humidity. Temperature and humidity were the efficacious variables in Makkah Province, while haze had no significant influence in that region. Finally, the sixth part of the research study examined the influence of the quality and extent of road networks on crime rates in both urban and rural areas in Jizan Province, Saudi Arabia. We performed both Ordinary Least Squares regression (OLS) and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) where crime rate was the dependent variable and paved (sealed) roads, non-paved (unsealed/gravel) roads and population density were the explanatory variables. Population density was a control variable. The findings reveal that, across all 14 districts in that province, the districts with better quality paved road networks had lower rates of crime than the districts with unpaved roads. Furthermore, the more extensive the road networks, the lower the crime rate whether or not the roads were paved. These findings concur with those reported in studies conducted in other countries, which revealed that rural areas are not always the safe, crime-free places they are often believed to be. This research contributes knowledge about the geographical information of criminal movement, and it offers some conceivable reasons for crime rates and patterns in relation to the spatial factors and the socio-cultural perspectives of Saudi Arabian life. More geographical research is still needed in terms of criminology, which will provide a better understanding of crime patterns, particularly in Saudi Arabia, and across the globe, where the spatial distribution of criminal cases is an essential base in crime research. Furthermore, additional studies are needed to investigate the complex interventions of the effect of different spatial variables on crime and the uncertainties correlation with the impact of environmental factors. This can help predict the impact of socioeconomic and environmental factors. The greater part of such an investigation will enhance the understanding of crime patterns, which is imperative for advancing a framework that can be used to address crime reduction and crime prevention.

Since 2014, Eurostat and the UNODC have launched a joint annual data collection on crime and criminal justice statistics, using the UN crime trends questionnaire and complementary Eurostat requests

for specific areas of interest to the European Commission. The data and metadata are collected from National Statistical Institutes or other relevant authorities (mainly police and justice departments) in each EU Member State, EFTA country and EU potential members. On the Eurostat website, data are available for 41 jurisdictions since 2008 until 2018 data and for 38 jurisdictions since 2019 data (EU-27, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania, Serbia, Turkey, Kosovo(1)), having drop the data for the United Kingdom separately owing to three separate jurisdictions England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland.

This joint data collection and other data collections carried out by Eurostat allows to gather information on:

• police-recorded offences by type of crime
• police-recorded offences by NUTS3 region
• intentional homicide and sexual violence victims and perpetrators (suspected, prosecuted, convicted) by sex
• intentional homicide victims by age, sex, and relationship to the offender
• intentional homicide victims and offences in largest cities
• offenders by justice legal status (suspected, prosecuted, convicted), age, sex, and citizenship
• persons brought before criminal courts by legal status (convicted persons/acquitted)
• personnel by institution (police, courts, and prisons) by sex
• legal cases in first instance courts by type and stage
• prisoners by age, sex, citizenship, and status of the trial process
• prison capacity and occupancy
• people involved in human trafficking by legal status (victims, suspected and convicted traffickers) and victims of human trafficking by all forms of exploitation and citizenship

Where available, data are broken down by sex, age groups (adults/juveniles), country of citizenship (foreigners or nationals) and other relevant variables. National data are available and for intentional homicide offences, city level data (largest cities) are available for some countries. Regional data at NUTS3 level are also available for some police-recorded offences.

Some historical series are available:

• Number of police-recorded crimes by type (intentional homicide, violence, robbery, home burglary, car thefts, and drug crimes) for the period 1993 – 2007
• Number of police-recorded homicide in cities for the period 1993 – 2007
• Number of police officers for the period 1993 – 2007
• Prison population for the period 1993 – 2007

Total number of police-recorded crimes for the period 1950 – 2000

(1) under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244/99

Context

Movehub city ranking as published on http://www.movehub.com/city-rankings

Content

movehubqualityoflife.csv

Cities ranked by
Movehub Rating: A combination of all scores for an overall rating for a city or country.
Purchase Power: This compares the average cost of living with the average local wage.
Health Care: Compiled from how citizens feel about their access to healthcare, and its quality.
Pollution: Low is good. A score of how polluted people find a city, includes air, water and noise pollution.
Quality of Life: A balance of healthcare, pollution, purchase power, crime rate to give an overall quality of life score.
Crime Rating: Low is good. The lower the score the safer people feel in this city.

movehubcostofliving.csv

Unit: GBP
City
Cappuccino
Cinema
Wine
Gasoline
Avg Rent
Avg Disposable Income

cities.csv

Cities to countries as parsed from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_towns_and_cities_with_100,000_or_more_inhabitants/cityname:_A (A-Z)

Acknowledgements

Movehub

http://www.movehub.com/city-rankings

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_towns_and_cities_with_100,000_or_more_inhabitants/cityname:_A

Despite popular accounts that link public housing demolitions to spatial redistribution of crime and possible increases in crime, little systematic research has analyzed the neighborhood or citywide impact of demolitions on crime. In Chicago, which has conducted the largest public housing demolition program in the United States, I find that public housing demolitions are associated with a 10 percent to 20 percent reduction in murder, assault, and robbery in neighborhoods where the demolitions occurred. Furthermore, violent crime rates fell by about the same amount in neighborhoods that received the most displaced public-housing households relative to neighborhoods that received fewer displaced public-housing households, during the period when these developments were being demolished. This suggests violent crime was not simply displaced from the neighborhoods where demolitions occurred to neighborhoods that received the former public-housing residents. However, it is impossible to know what would have happened to violent crime in the receiving neighborhoods had the demolitions not occurred. Finally, using a panel of cities that demolished public housing, I find that the mean public-housing demolition is associated with a drop of about 3 percent in a city’s murder rate and about 2 percent in a city’s assault rate. I interpret these findings as evidence that while public-housing demolitions may push crime into other parts of a city, crime reductions in neighborhoods where public housing is demolished are larger than crime increases in other neighborhoods. A caveat is that while the citywide reduction in the assault rate appears to be permanent, the citywide reduction in the murder rate seems to last for only a few years.

THIS DATASET WAS LAST UPDATED AT 7:11 AM EASTERN ON DEC. 1

OVERVIEW

2019 had the most mass killings since at least the 1970s, according to the Associated Press/USA TODAY/Northeastern University Mass Killings Database.

In all, there were 45 mass killings, defined as when four or more people are killed excluding the perpetrator. Of those, 33 were mass shootings . This summer was especially violent, with three high-profile public mass shootings occurring in the span of just four weeks, leaving 38 killed and 66 injured.

A total of 229 people died in mass killings in 2019.

The AP's analysis found that more than 50% of the incidents were family annihilations, which is similar to prior years. Although they are far less common, the 9 public mass shootings during the year were the most deadly type of mass murder, resulting in 73 people's deaths, not including the assailants.

One-third of the offenders died at the scene of the killing or soon after, half from suicides.

About this Dataset

The Associated Press/USA TODAY/Northeastern University Mass Killings database tracks all U.S. homicides since 2006 involving four or more people killed (not including the offender) over a short period of time (24 hours) regardless of weapon, location, victim-offender relationship or motive. The database includes information on these and other characteristics concerning the incidents, offenders, and victims.

The AP/USA TODAY/Northeastern database represents the most complete tracking of mass murders by the above definition currently available. Other efforts, such as the Gun Violence Archive or Everytown for Gun Safety may include events that do not meet our criteria, but a review of these sites and others indicates that this database contains every event that matches the definition, including some not tracked by other organizations.

This data will be updated periodically and can be used as an ongoing resource to help cover these events.

Using this Dataset

To get basic counts of incidents of mass killings and mass shootings by year nationwide, use these queries:

Mass killings by year

Mass shootings by year

To get these counts just for your state:

Filter killings by state

Definition of "mass murder"

Mass murder is defined as the intentional killing of four or more victims by any means within a 24-hour period, excluding the deaths of unborn children and the offender(s). The standard of four or more dead was initially set by the FBI.

This definition does not exclude cases based on method (e.g., shootings only), type or motivation (e.g., public only), victim-offender relationship (e.g., strangers only), or number of locations (e.g., one). The time frame of 24 hours was chosen to eliminate conflation with spree killers, who kill multiple victims in quick succession in different locations or incidents, and to satisfy the traditional requirement of occurring in a “single incident.”

Offenders who commit mass murder during a spree (before or after committing additional homicides) are included in the database, and all victims within seven days of the mass murder are included in the victim count. Negligent homicides related to driving under the influence or accidental fires are excluded due to the lack of offender intent. Only incidents occurring within the 50 states and Washington D.C. are considered.

Methodology

Project researchers first identified potential incidents using the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR). Homicide incidents in the SHR were flagged as potential mass murder cases if four or more victims were reported on the same record, and the type of death was murder or non-negligent manslaughter.

Cases were subsequently verified utilizing media accounts, court documents, academic journal articles, books, and local law enforcement records obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Each data point was corroborated by multiple sources, which were compiled into a single document to assess the quality of information.

In case(s) of contradiction among sources, official law enforcement or court records were used, when available, followed by the most recent media or academic source.

Case information was subsequently compared with every other known mass murder database to ensure reliability and validity. Incidents listed in the SHR that could not be independently verified were excluded from the database.

Project researchers also conducted extensive searches for incidents not reported in the SHR during the time period, utilizing internet search engines, Lexis-Nexis, and Newspapers.com. Search terms include: [number] dead, [number] killed, [number] slain, [number] murdered, [number] homicide, mass murder, mass shooting, massacre, rampage, family killing, familicide, and arson murder. Offender, victim, and location names were also directly searched when available.

This project started at USA TODAY in 2012.

Contacts

Contact AP Data Editor Justin Myers with questions, suggestions or comments about this dataset at jmyers@ap.org. The Northeastern University researcher working with AP and USA TODAY is Professor James Alan Fox, who can be reached at j.fox@northeastern.edu or 617-416-4400.

The average for 2017 based on 79 countries was 105 robberies per 100,000 people. The highest value was in Costa Rica: 1587 robberies per 100,000 people and the lowest value was in Oman: 1 robberies per 100,000 people. The indicator is available from 2003 to 2017. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.