Countries by Murder Rate – Ranked

A global index of countries by murder rate, measured by intentional homicides per 100,000 people, using the latest 2021 data from Our World in Data.

According to the United Nations 2021 Global Study on Homicide report, homicide kills considerably more people 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 all intentional killing, such as killing during armed conflict.

10 countries with the highest and lowest murder rates

Key findings

• 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.

A map of countries by murder rate

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.

It draws on the latest data available through Our World in Data. Some countries have been omitted due to insufficient or unreliable data.

Rank	Country	Rate
1	Jamaica	52.13
2	South Africa	41.87
3	Saint Lucia	38.96
4	Honduras	38.25
5	Belize	31.25
6	St. Vincent & Gren.	30.67
7	St. Kitts & Nevis	29.41
8	Trinidad & Tobago	29.36
9	The Bahamas	29.17
10	Myanmar	28.44

11	Mexico	28.18
12	Colombia	27.48
13	Guatemala	19.99
14	Venezuela	19.31
15	El Salvador	18.17
16	Antigua and Barbuda	17.16
17	Guyana	16.28
18	Ecuador	14.02
19	Dominica	13.81
20	Haiti	13.01

21	Eswatini	12.66
22	Panama	12.64
23	Namibia	12.45
24	Costa Rica	11.41
25	Barbados	11.38
26	Nicaragua	11.01
27	Bermuda	10.91
28	Botswana	10.55
29	Dominican Republic	10.54
30	Uruguay	8.90

31	Uganda	8.53
32	Paraguay	7.83
33	United States	6.81
34	Russia	6.80
35	Mongolia	6.15
36	Zimbabwe	6.14
37	Suriname	5.71
38	Kenya	5.27
39	Liechtenstein	5.12
40	Seychelles	4.70

41	Argentina	4.62
42	Afghanistan	4.02
43	Grenada	4.01
44	Pakistan	3.98
45	Ukraine	3.84
46	Chile	3.63
47	Bolivia	3.49
48	Latvia	3.04
49	India	2.94
50	Mauritius	2.62

51	Lithuania	2.58
52	Turkey	2.52
53	Montenegro	2.39
54	Albania	2.31
55	Armenia	2.19
56	Canada	2.07
57	Kosovo	1.99
58	Estonia	1.96
59	Israel	1.94
60	Morocco	1.93

61	Azerbaijan	1.91
62	Ghana	1.84
63	Algeria	1.57
64	Uzbekistan	1.41
65	Cyprus	1.29
66	Bulgaria	1.28
67	Romania	1.26
68	France	1.14
69	Sweden	1.08
70	Belgium	1.08

71	Serbia	1.06
72	Jordan	1.02
73	Slovakia	1.01
74	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.98
75	Palestine	0.88
76	Greece	0.85
77	Germany	0.83
78	Croatia	0.81
79	Denmark	0.80
80	Portugal	0.80

81	Hungary	0.77
82	Australia	0.74
83	Austria	0.73
84	Malaysia	0.72
85	Poland	0.71
86	Netherlands	0.65
87	Luxembourg	0.63
88	Spain	0.61
89	Iceland	0.54
90	Norway	0.54

91	South Korea	0.52
92	Italy	0.51
93	Switzerland	0.48
94	United Arab Emirates	0.47
95	Czechia	0.45
96	Ireland	0.44
97	Macao	0.44
98	Slovenia	0.42
99	Malta	0.38
100	Qatar	0.33

101	Hong Kong	0.31
102	Oman	0.24
103	Japan	0.23
104	Singapore	0.1
105	Bahrain	0.07
106	Vatican	0.0

Bastian Herre, Fiona Spooner and Max Roser (2013) – “Homicides” Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: ‘https://ourworldindata.org/homicides’ [Online Resource]