Murder in the World and in the US - Part Two

by Tom Kando

Part One of this Article has presented  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  discuss the worldwide distribution of murder, and compare the US with other parts of the world.

3. The Worldwide Distribution of Murder:

Table 5, below, shows the regional distribution of the 47 most violent countries of the world.

Table 5. Regional Distribution of the Top 47 countries, Ranked by Murder Rates          

Region	number of countries
1. Latin America	13
2. Caribbean Island nations	14
Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Ocean island nations	6
3. Africa	13
4. Europe	1
Total	47

1. Latin America: Of the world’s continents, Latin American has always had the highest rates of murder. 13 of the world’s 47 most murderous countries are in that continent. They include the 3 countries with the highest murder rates in the world  (El Salvador, Honduras and Venezuela), and the countries with the very  highest and the third  highest  absolute numbers of murders (Brazil and Mexico).

In addition, all 24 Latin American countries are among the world’s most violent half.   Their 621 million people commit 144,000 murders per year. That is,  8.3% of the world’s population commits  33% of the world’s murders. Brazil, with 2.8% of the world’s  population, experiences  14 % of the world’s homicides.

                       

2. Caribbean and other Island Nations: Of the  47 most murderous countries of the world, 14 are Caribbean islands, including the US Virgin Islands (ranked 4^th in the world), Jamaica (No. 5), Saint Vincent (# 8), Saint Kitts (#9), and Trinidad, Anguilla, Montserrat and Santa  Lucia among the top 20. 

It seems that many of these island-nations’ saintly appellations did little to rein in their murderous impulses. Furthermore, beyond the top 47 most murderous nations of the world, we find another half dozen Caribbean island-nations among the world’s top half. Finally, the  47 most murderous  countries of the world also include   half a dozen island states in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. 

In sum,  there appears to be a  pattern whereby many small island-nations around the world, especially in the Caribbean, have exceptionally high murder rates, and small populations. Thus, a small percentage  of the world’s population accounts for a high percentage of its murders.

3. Africa:  Of the  47 most murderous countries of the world, 13 are African, including Lesotho (#6), South Africa (#10), the Central African Republic (#18), Swaziland (#24) Namibia (#25), Botswana (#28) and  South Sudan (# 29). In absolute terms, Nigeria ranks #6 in the world, with nearly 18,000 annual murders, and the Congo ranks #11, with over  10,000 murders. Africa experiences twice as many murders as its proportion of the world’s population: This continent’s population  is 1.2 billion people (16% of the world), while it experiences   135,000 murders  annually, i.e. 31% of the world’s total.

                                                                                      * * * * * * *

In order to discuss the remaining regions of the world, including Europe, I must make some additional distinctions:  Table 6 distinguishes between six regions which I have not yet discussed - all of them with LOWER than average homicide rates, except one.

                                                           

Table 6. Number of (Annual) Homicides and Populations of the World’s Nine Regions

Region (number of countries)	Population	% of world’s population	Homicides	% of all homi- cides	rate (per 100,000
World (219)	7,450,000,000	100%	430,000	100%	6
1. Latin Am.(24)	620,995,093	8.3%	143,777	33%	23	over represented
2. Caribbean (20)	17,583,624	0.2%	3,183	0.7%	22	over represented
3. Africa (56)	1,216,000,000	16.3%	135,000	31%	11	over represented
4. North Am. (5)	359,817,821	4.8%	17,871	4.1%	5	under represented
5. Asia (33)	3,881,952,326	52%	80,262	18.4%	2	under represented
6. Mid  East (17)	553,710,171	7.4%	22,302	5.1%	4	under represented
7. Oceania (19)	40,037,053	0.5%	1,069	.2%	2.7	under represented
8. East Eur. (21)	323,325,781	4.3%	20,441	4.7%	6.3	over represented
9.West Eur. (24)	414,027,829	5.5%	3,917	.9%	.9	under represented

The percentages of murders experienced in Latin America,  the Caribbean and Africa  have already been discussed. These  regions are all OVER-represented in this respect. The remaining 6 regions of the world rank as follows:

Eastern Europe

North America

The Middle East

Oceania

Asia

Western Europe

4. North America: Surprisingly, this continent is somewhat under-represented. This holds even if Canada  is excluded from the continent’s average. In other words, the United States’ homicide rate (5.3 per 100,000) is below  that of the world (6 per 100,000). Canada’s murder rate is, of course, less than one third that of  the US. That country ranks #168 in the world.    

5. Asia: The proportion of murders committed in Asia is vastly lower than that continent’s population (18.4%, as against 52%). The absolute number of murders in India is huge of course (42,678)  but in proportion to its immense population (1.32 billion), its murder rate is modest (3.22 per 100,000). The country ranks 119^th in the world, far below the United States.

China’s numbers are extremely low, both in absolute and relative terms: With 8,634 murders per year, China’s  rank  in terms of rate per 100,000  is #200, one of the world’s lowest. Indonesia’s is even better: with 1,292 murders per year, that huge country’s  relative rank is #204. Japan, finally, with 362 murders per year, ranks #213. Only half a dozen mini-states of the world (E.g. Monaco and San Marino)  are less violent than Japan, most of them with zero homicides.

6. The Middle East:   This group of countries also experiences  fewer homicides than their proportion of the world’s population. This may also  surprise  some people, as it is  contrary to stereotypes. The Middle East’s most murderous countries are Iraq (ranked #48 in the world), Yemen (#75) and  Afghanistan (#77). However, much of the violence in these countries consists of war, not individual private homicides - the topic of this paper. The same goes for Syria.

Altogether, the Middle East’s homicide  rate is only 4 per 100,000, which is well below the average for the world and for the United States. Saudi Arabia ranks #161 in the world, Israel is #164, and most other Middle Eastern countries have  similarly low murder rates.

7. Oceania: The murder rates in this  region of the world are even lower than those of the Middle East - 2.7 per 100,000. The dominant country here is Australia. Its murder rate is below 1 per 100,000, and it ranks #181 in the world.

           

8  and  9:  Europe:  When it comes to Europe, one must distinguish between Eastern and Western Europe. The former is a relatively high crime area, whereas the latter is by far the least violent region of the world.

Eastern Europe’s high rate of murder is largely due to that of Russia, which has the 8^th largest number of murders  in the world. In addition, Ukraine,  the Baltic states, some the countries that made up the former Yugoslavia, and several formerly Communist countries (Hungary, Albania, etc.) have murder rates that are higher than those of Western Europe. However, all of Eastern Europe except Russia enjoys a murder rate that is lower than that of the US (typically only half as high). Hungary, for example, has a murder rate of 2.07, as that country ranks #145 in the world.

Western Europe has the lowest murder rates in the world. The 24 countries comprising it have  a population of 414 million people, i.e. 5.5% of the world. Together, they experience fewer than 4,000 murders, i.e.  less than 1% of the world’s total.  Table 7 provides data about the number of murders and the proportional rankings of a selected number of Western European countries.

                                                                                                                       

Table 7. Number of Murders and Proportional World Rankings of Selected Western European Countries

Country	Number of annual murders	world rank
San Marino	0	219
Monaco	0	216
Iceland	1	212
Switzerland	41	205
Norway	27	203
Austria	45	201
Italy	400	195
Spain	323	193
Luxembourg	4	191
Netherlands	123	190
Ireland	38	187
Germany	716	184
United Kingdom	791	170
France	792	169

It is clear from table 7 that the murder rates in  most of Western Europe are among the lowest in the world, even though, obviously,  the absolute numbers are higher in the larger countries.

My advice to Americans who have misgivings  about traveling to Europe: Go and enjoy. You will be safer there than you are here at home.

As to causation: While this article is not about explaining these numbers, let me just suggest one hypothesis: From 1914 to 1945, Europe engaged in an amount of violence never experienced by man before, since then, or hopefully ever again. I lived through it myself. It may be that the Europeans learned a lesson which much of the rest of the world has yet to learn.  This hypothesis is also supported by the cases of Japan and China: The former of these two countries is currently

one of the least violent ones on earth - ranked #204 out of 219).  It is also the only country ever to have suffered nuclear attack.  Similarly, China, currently ranked #200 in its murder rate, went through massive warfare, civil war and genocide during the 20^th century.

Conclusion: The US and the Rest of the World:

In absolute terms, only 6 countries have more murders than the United States, and 212 countries have fewer. However, America’s population  is the third largest in the world.  While it comprises 4.3% of the world’s people, it is responsible for a slightly lower proportion of all murders, namely 4%.

To many of us, this is little comfort, as America’s murder rate is only modest when compared with most of the less developed countries - primarily Latin America and Africa.  When compared with Europe (including all of Eastern Europe, except Russia), with most of Asia, with  Canada and with Australia and the rest of Oceania, America’s murder rate is high.

Furthermore, there is one specific form of private violence in which the US seems to have a near monopoly - mass shootings.  This is a particularly heinous crime, as it targets utterly innocent civilians, often children and women. The outrageous frequency of mass shootings in the US is clearly caused by the unique ease with which Americans can get their hands on automatic weapons. Most countries do not have a Second Amendment in their constitution, an amendment which has been twisted so as to enable individuals to acquire weapons of mass destruction.

But this is an issue  which I will address in a separate post. Today’s lessons is this: the US murder rate is high  when compared  to that of most other highly developed affluent countries, but in fact, most regions of the world remain more murderous than the United States. Furthermore, the American  murder rate has been declining for 30 years. It is now less than half of what it was during the late 1980s

© Tom Kando 2018;All Rights Reserved

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