Murder in the World and the US - Part One

by Tom Kando                               

Introduction:

November, 2018: Another couple of  mass shootings. Nothing out of the ordinary. We have become inured to this. We hardly  react any more. A short while ago it was a synagogue in Pittsburgh, then a nightclub in Southern California, next week it’ll be a school, or a shopping mall, or some other public place. The killing rages on, a dozen innocent people mowed down at a time, often more than that.

The solution is obvious, and before our eyes. It has been so for years. All you have to do is look at dozens of  comparable countries, follow their example, and voila; problem solved. Thousands of American lives saved every year.

In a separate post - Mass Murder Ad Nauseam - I will once again go over the main aspects of this issue. But for now, I am tired of repeating the same refrain.

Instead, today I want to give you some facts  about the distribution of murder  in the world at this time.  I have always been a “numbers guy.” I hope that you find some of what follows as interesting as I do. I taught criminology for decades. Today, one  of my sources is: List of Countries by Intentional Homicides.

My numbers are based on the United Nations’ definition of intentional  homicide. So these figures include murder and  manslaughter, but not acts of war and accidents. I focus  on two questions:

A. The amount and distribution of murder around the world.

B. How the US compares internationally.

Part One of this article presents data on and analysis of the distribution of murders across selected countries, and  the concentration of murders among a minority of the world’s nations. In Part Two, I  will discuss the worldwide distribution of murder, and compare the US with other parts of the world.

1. Twenty Selected Countries Ranked by Homicide Rates, and by Absolute Numbers of Homicides

Table 1.  Twenty  Selected Countries Ranked by Annual Rates of Intentional Homicides

Rank	Country	Rate - per 100,000, per  year	total  number
1	El Salvador	82.84	5,257
2	Honduras	56.52	5,150
3	Venezuela	56.33	17,778
5	Jamaica	47.01	1,354
12	Brazil	29.53	61,283
20	Mexico	19,26	24,559
41	Russia	10.82	15,561
87	United  States	5,35	17,250
119	India	3.22	42,678
154	Canada	1.68	611
169	France	1.23	792
170	United Kingdom	1.20	791
184	Germany	0.88	716
190	Netherlands	0.73	123
195	Italy	0.67	400
200	China	0.62	8,634
203	Norway	0.51	27
212	Iceland	0.30	1
213	Japan	0.28	362
216	Monaco	0	0

Table 1 reveals that  El Salvador is  the most violent country on earth. There,  83 people out of every 100,000 are murdered each year. This rate   is sixteen times higher  than that of  the US. We also see than Honduras is the second most violent country in the world, with a murder rate that is eleven times higher than that of the US.  And you wonder why caravans of thousands of people  flee from  such countries and desperately seek asylum in the US?

Out of the world’s 219 countries, the US is the 87^th most violent country, as measured by homicide rates. In other words, 86 countries are more violent, and 132 less so.

Table 2.  Twenty  Selected Countries Ranked by Total Annual Numbers of Intentional Homicides

Rank	Country	Total number	Rate - per 100,000
1	Brazil	61,283	29.53
2	India	42,678	3.22
3	Mexico	24,558	19.26
6	Venezuela	17,778	56.33
7	United States	17,250	5.35
8	Russia	15,561	10.82
12	China	8,634	0.62
15	El Salvador	5,257	82.84
16	Honduras	5,150	56.52
39	Jamaica	1,354	47.01
57	France	792	1.23
58	United Kingdom	791	1.20
60	Germany	716	0.88
71	Canada	611	1.68
86	Italy	400	0.67
90	Japan	362	0.28
124	Netherlands	123	0.73
167	Norway	27	0.51
213	Iceland	1	9.30
216	Monaco	0	0

Table 2 shows that Brazil has 61,283 murders per year, by far the largest amount of any country. In absolute terms, the United States is the 7^th most violent country in the world, with over 17,000 murders per year. Russia’s number is nearly as high, even though its population is less than half ours.

2. Over Half of all the Murders in the World are Committed/Experienced by a Minority of Countries and People

Table 3. The 9 Countries with the Largest Absolute Numbers of Murders, Compared to their Populations

                                                                                                                                               

Country	number of homicides	rank	population	% of world murders	rate per 100,000	rank
World	430,000	-	7.5 billion	100%	6	-
Brazil	61,283	1	207.7 million	14%	29.5	12
India	42,678	2	1.32 billion	9.9%	3.2	119
Mexico	24,559	3	125.5 million	5.7%	19.2	20
South Africa	19,016	4	56.7 million	4.4%	34	10
Nigeria	17,843	5	190.9 million	4.1%	9.85	47
Venezuela	!7,778	6	31.6 million	4.1%	56.33	3
United States	17,250	7	323.4 million	4%	5.35	87
Russia	15,561	8	144.3 million	3.6%	10.82	41
Colombia	12,402	9	48.7 million	2.9%	25.5	16
Total, 9 countries	218,370		33% of     world’s pop-   ulation	52% of world’s murders

Table 3 indicates that the top 9 countries of the world  together account for over  half of all murders -  218,370 per year - while their collective population is 2.45 billion people, i.e. less than one third of the world.      One gains an even starker picture of the uneven distribution of murder around the world by looking at the countries which have the highest murder RATES, rather than their absolute numbers. This is done  in table 4.

                                   

Table 4.  Over Half of the World’s Murders Are Committed by the Top 47 Countries of the World, Ranked by Rates.

Country	region	absolute murders	population	per 100,000	rank, by rate
World	-	430,000	7.5 billion	6	-
El Salvador	Latin Am.	5257	6.345	82.84	1
Honduras	Latin Am.	5150	9.1	56.52	2
Venezuela	Latin Am.	17778	31.6	56.33	3
Jamaica	Caribbean	1354	2.9	47.01	5
Lesotho	Africa	897	2.2	41.25	6
Belize, St. Vincent, St. Kitts, Trinidad					7, 8, 9, 11
South Africa	Africa	19016	56.7	33.97	10
Brazil	Latin Am.	61283	207.7	29.53	12
Bahamas, Anguilla, Guatemala, Colombia, Montserrat, Central Afr. Rep., St. Lucia, Tuvalu					13,14,15,16,17, 18,19,21
Mexico	Latin Am.	24559	125.5	19.26	20
Puerto Rico	Latin Am.	679	3.4	18.51	22
Guyana, Swaziland, Namibia, St. Pierre, Dom. Rep., Botswana, S. Sudan, Congo, Fr. Guiana, Bermuda, Seychelles, Costa Rica, Ivory Coast, Uganda, Cape Verde					23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37
Philippines	Asia	11,385	104.9	11.02	38
Barbados, Mali					39,40
Russia	Europe	15561	144,3	10.82	41
Papua New Guinea,  Antigua,  Grenada,  Haiti,  Mauritania					42, 43, 44, 45, 46
Nigeria	Africa	17847	190.9	9.85	47
grand total		225,957 = 52.5% of all murders	1.043 billion = 14% of all pop.

Over half (52%) of the world’s murders are committed /suffered  in the top 47 countries, as ranked by murder rates.  While these make up one fifth of the world’s countries, their combined population is only 14% that of the world!

The remaining 172 countries together  - which make up 86% of the world’s population -  are only responsible for 48% of all murders.

In Part Two of this article, I will discuss the worldwide distribution of murder, and compare the US with other parts of the world. leave comment here

© Tom Kando 2018;All Rights Reserved