Incidence[edit]

See also: List of countries by intentional homicide rate

International murder rate per 100,000 inhabitants, 2011

0–1
1–2
2–5
5–10
10–20
>20

The World Health Organization reported in October 2002 that a person is murdered every 60
seconds.[88] An estimated 520,000 people were murdered in 2000 around the globe. Another study
estimated the worldwide murder rate at 456,300 in 2010 with a 35% increase since 1990.[89] Two-
fifths of them were young people between the ages of 10 and 29 who were killed by other young
people.[90] Because murder is the least likely crime to go unreported, statistics of murder are seen as
a bellwether of overall crime rates.[91]
Murder rates vary greatly among countries and societies around the world. In the Western world,
murder rates in most countries have declined significantly during the 20th century and are now
between 1 and 4 cases per 100,000 people per year. Latin America and the Caribbean, the region
with the highest murder rate in the world,[92] experienced more than 2.5 million murders between
2000 and 2017.[93]

UNODC : Per 100,000 population (2011)

Murder rates by country[edit]

Murder rates in jurisdictions such as Japan, Singapore, Hong
Kong, Iceland, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Germany are among the lowest in the world,
around 0.3–1 cases per 100,000 people per year; the rate of the United States is among the highest
of developed countries, around 4.5 in 2014,[94] with rates in larger cities sometimes over 40 per
100,000.[95] The top ten highest murder rates are in Honduras (91.6 per 100,000), El Salvador, Ivory
Coast, Venezuela, Belize, Jamaica, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guatemala, Saint Kitts and
Nevis and Zambia. (UNODC, 2011 – full table here).
The following absolute murder counts per-country are not comparable because they are not adjusted
by each country's total population. Nonetheless, they are included here for reference, with 2010
used as the base year (they may or may not include justifiable homicide, depending on the
jurisdiction). There were 52,260 murders in Brazil, consecutively elevating the record set in
2009.[96] Over half a million people were shot to death in Brazil between 1979 and 2003.[97] 33,335
murder cases were registered across India,[98] about 19,000 murders committed
in Russia,[99] approximately 17,000 murders in Colombia (the murder rate was 38 per 100,000
people, in 2008 murders went down to 15,000),[100] approximately 16,000 murders in South
Africa,[101] approximately 15,000 murders in the United States,[102] approximately 26,000 murders
in Mexico,[103] approximately 13,000 murders in Venezuela,[104] approximately 4,000 murders in El
Salvador,[105] approximately 1,400 murders in Jamaica,[106] approximately 550 murders
in Canada[107] and approximately 470 murders in Trinidad and Tobago.[106] Pakistan reported 12,580
murders.[108]

The scene of a murder in Rio de Janeiro. More than 800,000 people were murdered in Brazil between 1980
and 2004.[109]

In the United States, 666,160 people were killed between 1960 and 1996.[110] Approximately 90% of
murders in the US are committed by males.[111] Between 1976 and 2005, 23.5% of all murder victims
and 64.8% of victims murdered by intimate partners were female.[112] For women in the US, homicide
is the leading cause of death in the workplace.[113]
In the US, murder is the leading cause of death for African American males aged 15 to 34. Between
1976 and 2008, African Americans were victims of 329,825 homicides.[114][115] In 2006, Federal
Bureau of Investigation's Supplementary Homicide Report indicated that nearly half of the 14,990
murder victims that year were Black (7421).[116] In the year 2007, there were 3,221 black victims and
3,587 white victims of non-negligent homicides. While 2,905 of the black victims were killed by a
black offender, 2,918 of the white victims were killed by white offenders. There were 566 white
victims of black offenders and 245 black victims of white offenders.[117] The "white" category in
the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) includes non-black Hispanics.[118] In London in 2006, 75% of the
victims of gun crime and 79% of the suspects were "from the African/Caribbean
community".[119] Murder demographics are affected by the improvement of trauma care, which has
resulted in reduced lethality of violent assaults – thus the murder rate may not necessarily indicate
the overall level of social violence.[120]
Workplace homicide, which tripled during the 1980s, is the fastest growing category of murder in
America.[113][121]
Development of murder rates over time in different countries is often used by both supporters and
opponents of capital punishment and gun control. Using properly filtered data, it is possible to make
the case for or against either of these issues. For example, one could look at murder rates in the
United States from 1950 to 2000,[122] and notice that those rates went up sharply shortly after
a moratorium on death sentences was effectively imposed in the late 1960s. This fact has been used
to argue that capital punishment serves as a deterrent and, as such, it is morally justified. Capital
punishment opponents frequently counter that the United States has much higher murder rates
than Canada and most European Union countries, although all those countries have abolished the
death penalty. Overall, the global pattern is too complex, and on average, the influence of both these
factors may not be significant and could be more social, economic, and cultural.
Despite the immense improvements in forensics in the past few decades, the fraction of murders
solved has decreased in the United States, from 90% in 1960 to 61% in 2007.[123] Solved murder
rates in major U.S. cities varied in 2007 from 36% in Boston, Massachusetts to 76% in San
Jose, California.[124] Major factors affecting the arrest rate include witness cooperation[123] and the
number of people assigned to investigate the case.[124]

History of murder rates[edit]

Intentional homicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants, 2009

According to scholar Pieter Spierenburg homicide rates per 100,000 in Europe have fallen over the
centuries, from 35 per 100,000 in medieval times, to 20 in 1500 AD, 5 in 1700, to below two per
100,000 in 1900.[125]
In the United States, murder rates have been higher and have fluctuated. They fell below 2 per
100,000 by 1900, rose during the first half of the century, dropped in the years following World War
II, and bottomed out at 4.0 in 1957 before rising again.[126] The rate stayed in 9 to 10 range most of
the period from 1972 to 1994, before falling to 5 in present times.[125] The increase since 1957 would
have been even greater if not for the significant improvements in medical techniques and emergency
response times, which mean that more and more attempted homicide victims survive. According to
one estimate, if the lethality levels of criminal assaults of 1964 still applied in 1993, the country would
have seen the murder rate of around 26 per 100,000, almost triple the actually observed rate of 9.5
per 100,000.[120]
The historical homicide rate in Stockholm since 1400 AD. The murder rate was very high in the Middle Ages.
The rate has declined greatly: from 45 / 100,000 to a low of 0.6 in the 1950s. The last decades have seen the
homicide rate rise slowly.

A similar, but less pronounced pattern has been seen in major European countries as well. The
murder rate in the United Kingdom fell to 1 per 100,000 by the beginning of the 20th century and as
low as 0.62 per 100,000 in 1960, and was at 1.28 per 100,000 as of 2009. The murder rate in
France (excluding Corsica) bottomed out after World War II at less than 0.4 per 100,000,
quadrupling to 1.6 per 100,000 since then.[127]
The specific factors driving this dynamics in murder rates are complex and not universally agreed
upon. Much of the raise in the U.S. murder rate during the first half of the 20th century is generally
thought to be attributed to gang violence associated with Prohibition. Since most murders are
committed by young males, the near simultaneous low in the murder rates of major developed
countries circa 1960 can be attributed to low birth rates during the Great Depression and World War
II. Causes of further moves are more controversial. Some of the more exotic factors claimed to affect
murder rates include the availability of abortion[128] and the likelihood of chronic exposure
to lead during childhood (due to the use of leaded paint in houses and tetraethyllead as a gasoline
additive in internal combustion engines).[129]