Crime
Murder Rate by Country 2026
Total Murder Rate (per 100k)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
64.160 per 100k
51.321 per 100k
49.440 per 100k
45.723 per 100k
41.152 per 100k
Country | Total Murders 2024 | |
|---|---|---|
 | Puerto Rico | 489 |
 | Azerbaijan | 206 |
 | Morocco | 635 |
 | Albania | 49 |
 | France | 897 |
 | Romania | 213 |
 | Cyprus | 13 |
 | Mongolia | 196 |
 | Russia | 11,327 |
| Total | 14,025 |
- UK rates are calculated as the simple average of the regional rates for England & Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, because the original source reports rates separately by region.
Snapshot
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Globally, socioeconomic factors like social inequality, unemployment, and gang activity significantly influence murder rates.
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Central America and the Caribbean have the highest murder rates, with El Salvador, Honduras, and Jamaica notably higher than the global average.
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Countries with low murder rates, such as Japan and Singapore, benefit from effective law enforcement, strict weapon regulations, and severe punishment for crimes.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s Global Study on Homicide 2023, 458,000 people were victims of homicide in 2021—more than five times as many as were killed in armed conflicts during the same period. The report explains that many socioeconomic factors can drive homicide rates. These factors include gender stereotypes, social inequality, unemployment, political instability, firearms possession (just over half of all homicides are committed via firearms)… and especially gangs, organized crime, and the drug trade. In fact, as the report states, “Between 2015 and 2021, organized-crime related homicides killed almost as many people as armed conflicts, with about 100,000 victims annually for both categories.”
Top 10 Countries with the Highest Murder Rates (per 100k) in 2023
While 2023’s global murder rate was approximately 5.8 (per 100k people), murder rates varied widely across the globe. Central America and the Caribbean were global hotspots, with countries such as Haiti (41.1), Ecuador (45.7), and Jamaica (49.3) posting murder rates up to 8 times higher than the global average. The Central and South American countries Honduras (31.4), Mexico (24.9), and Costa Rica (17.8) followed. Even with the rest of South America and North America posting lower rates, the overall average for the Americas as a whole rose to about 16. Africa’s rate came in at 13.0, but with the major caveat that “the raw statistics for many countries are not available.” Similarly, Oceania posted an impressive rate of 2.8, but official homicide reports “tend to deviate substantially from information on violence contained in hospital records,” suggesting that many homicides may be going unreported to the police. Finally, Europe (3.0) and Asia (2.3) displayed rates of less than half the global average.
Factors known to contribute to lower murder rates and decreased crime overall include the wealth of a nation, the effectiveness of its law enforcement, the availability of weapons (especially firearms), and the severity of punishment for committing murder. For instance, Japan is a fairly wealthy nation with very strict regulations regarding gun possession, and murder is punishable by hanging.
Top 10 Countries with the Lowest Murder Rates (per 100k) in 2023
Below is a list of each country’s homicide rate (number of murders per 100,000 people). Note that accidental deaths and cases of “self-inflicted murder,” more commonly called suicide, are not included in these statistics.
