In 2024, the homicide rate in Trinidad and Tobago stood at around 45.7 homicide victims per 100,000 population. The murder levels increased 8.1 points compared to a year earlier, when 37.6 homicides were registered per 100,000 inhabitants. In Latin America and the Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago had one of the highest homicide rates that year.

Robberies have been the most common property crime reported in Trinidad and Tobago since 2019. At least 2,399 robbery cases were registered in 2024, down from 2,613 the year earlier. Overall, property crimes in Trinidad and Tobago have registered a considerable decrease between 2019 and 2021, just to go up again in 2022. More figures about crime in Caribbean countries can be found in this report.

Except for 2020, homicide levels had been growing in this Caribbean country at least since 2014. The homicide rate in Trinidad and Tobago also improved in 2020. In 2024, the numbers of murders drop again and a total of 625 occurrences were registered in the country.

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.

13.2 (cases per 100,000 population) in 2015. “Rape” means sexual intercourse without valid consent. (UN-CTS M3.4)

In 2023, 52 murders were committed in Trinidad and Tobago's capital, Port of Spain. The number of homicides registered in the city remained relatively constant between 2016 and 2018, peaking in 2015 when 87 homicides were registered in the city.

This study examines gangs and criminal organizations and the involvement of at-risk youth in the Eastern and Southern Caribbean (ESC) region. Data was collected in Trinidad and Tobago, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and St. Kitts and Nevis. Two survey datasets are attached in this asset: School Youth in forms 4 and 5 (the equivalent of 10th and 11th grade in the United States) in all three countries, and Detained Youth in Trinidad and Tobago and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

This file contains data at the individual level for people older than 16 years old for the LAPOP survey implemented during 2014 in Trinidad and Tobago. A new module on victimization and crime financed by the IDB is included in this survey's version. There are also attached technical information and questionnaires.