Where You’re Most Likely To Be Murdered

One-in-five murder victims around the world is Brazilian, Colombian or Venezuelan, a study has shown, despite the three countries containing less than four per cent of the world’s total population.

The Homicide Monitor data project compiled by the Brazil-based Instituto Igarape reveals the high rates of homicide around Latin America and the Caribbean, where a third of all of the world’s homicides occur.

The region contains only eight per cent of the world’s total population.

Honduras (85.5 murders per 100,000 inhabitants), Venezuela (53.7) and the US Virgin Islands (46.9) have the highest murder rates per population in the world.

By contrast, Britain’s is 1.2 per 100,000 population, while the US is 4.7.

But owing to Brazil and Colombia’s largest overall population, these two countries – along with Venezeula – are responsible for one-in-five of all murders in the world each year.

Brazil had 56,337 homicides – the highest in the world – reported in 2012 (the most recent year for which data is available), Venezuela 16,072 and Colombia 15,733.

Poverty and inequality levels are high in Brazil, particularly in the country’s north, where black, mixed race, and indigenous populations are disproportionately affected.

These disparities contribute to Brazil’s high crime rate, particularly sparking violent crime in cities flanked by favelas.

In Colombia, murder rates have fallen from 381 per 100,00 in 1991 to today’s 30.3, largely as a result of the end of the drug wars, but violence among guerrillas, paramilitary groups, and Colombian security forces remains high.

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