Countries Ranked by Murder Rate

A global ranking of countries by murder rate, based on the latest international data on intentional homicides per 100,000 people. These figures reflect criminal murders, not deaths caused by war or military conflict.

Some conflict-affected regions still report low murder rates because homicide data exclude war-related deaths and only count criminal killings.

To put that in perspective, the United Nations notes that homicide actually kills more people globally than armed conflict.

Intentional homicides are defined by the UN as:

“Unlawful homicides purposely inflicted as a result of domestic disputes, interpersonal violence, violent conflicts over land resources, intergang violence over turf or control and predatory violence and killing by armed groups.”

UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

Intentional homicide does not include killings that occur during armed conflict.

This distinction explains why countries with ongoing fighting may appear to have low homicide rates on paper, while peaceful countries with gang violence can rank high.

10 countries with the highest and lowest murder rates

Below are the countries with the highest and lowest homicide rates in the world, based on the latest figures (per 100,000 people).

Many countries share the same rate, especially at the lower end, so the ten listed here are a sample of the highest and lowest values rather than a strict top-ten ranking.

Key findings

Many global trends below come from the latest UNODC global homicide datasets, which update more slowly than individual country figures.

• The 2021 average global murder rate was 5.8 homicides per 100,000 people.
• The global homicide rate decreased from 7.2 in 1992 to 6.1 in 2017.
• The homicide rate in the North and South American continents (14.96) is the highest recorded in the region since reliable records began in 1990.
• Africa’s murder rate (12.66) is also above the global average.
• Asia, Europe, and Oceania all have a murder rate below the global average: 2.33, 2.24, and 2.9, respectively.
• 81% of homicide victims recorded in 2021-2022 were male.
• Latin America and Caribbean countries have some of the highest homicide rates in the world.
• Organized crime alone was responsible for up to 22% of all homicides in 2021-2022.

Countries by murder rate – complete ranking

The table below ranks the world’s countries by their murder rate using intentional homicides per 100,000 people. Data years vary by country because not all nations report annually.

Some countries have been omitted due to insufficient or unreliable data.

Country	Rate per 100,000
Afghanistan	4
Albania	1.8
Algeria	1.2
Antigua and Barbuda	10.7
Argentina	4.5
Armenia	2.2
Australia	0.9
Austria	0.9
Azerbaijan	2
Bahamas	32.2
Bahrain	0.2
Barbados	15.2
Belgium	1.1
Belize	28.1
Bermuda	6.2
Bolivia	4.4
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1.2
Botswana	11.4
Brazil	20.6
Bulgaria	1.1
Cameroon	6.8
Canada	2
Chile	6.3
Colombia	24.9
Costa Rica	17.7
Croatia	0.7
Cyprus	1
Czechia	0.8
Denmark	0.8
Dominica	28.4
Dominican Republic	10.9
Ecuador	45.7
El Salvador	7.9
England and Wales	1.1
Estonia	1.5
Eswatini	12.5
Fiji	2.1
Finland	1
France	1.3
Germany	0.9
Ghana	1.8
Gibraltar	0
Greece	0.8
Grenada	13.7
Guatemala	23.4
Guyana	19.1
Haiti	41.2
Honduras	31.4
Hong Kong	0.4
Hungary	0.7
Iceland	1.3
India	2.8
Indonesia	0.3
Iraq (Central Iraq)	15.4
Ireland	0.7
Israel	1.6
Italy	0.6
Jamaica	49.3
Japan	0.2
Jordan	1
Kazakhstan	2.6
Kenya	4.9
Kosovo	1.9
Latvia	2.5
Liechtenstein	5.1
Lithuania	2.6
Luxembourg	1.5
Macao	0.6
Malaysia	0.7
Malta	0.6
Mauritius	2.3
Mexico	24.9
Moldova	2.5
Mongolia	5.6
Montenegro	0.8
Morocco	1.7
Myanmar	2.6
Namibia	11.2
Netherlands	0.7
New Zealand	1.5
Nicaragua	11.3
Nigeria	15.7
North Macedonia	1.5
Norway	0.7
Oman	0.1
Pakistan	4.3
Palestine	0.6
Panama	12.5
Paraguay	6.8
Peru	8.6
Philippines	4.3
Poland	0.8
Portugal	0.7
Puerto Rico	15.1
Qatar	0.1
Romania	1.1
Russia	7.8
Saint Kitts and Nevis	23.5
Saint Lucia	39
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	41.2
Scotland	1
Serbia	1.3
Seychelles	8
Singapore	0.1
Slovakia	1.1
Slovenia	0.6
South Africa	43.7
South Korea	0.5
Spain	0.7
Suriname	6.5
Sweden	1.1
Switzerland	0.6
Trinidad and Tobago	40.4
Turkey	3.2
Turks and Caicos Islands	76.3
Uganda	9
Ukraine	3.8
United Arab Emirates	0.7
United Kingdom	1.1
United States	5.8
Uruguay	11.2
Uzbekistan	1.4
Vatican	0
Venezuela	12.6
Zimbabwe	6.8

Source: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Global Study on Homicide (latest available), United Nations, World Population Prospects (2024), Additional population estimates compiled from international demographic datasets (2024).