Top 100 Countries by Homicide Rate (per 100k), 2025
Homicide rates remain one of the clearest, most comparable signals of extreme violence in a society — but cross-country comparisons are only meaningful when you understand what is counted, how it is reported, and which year the data actually represent. This StatRanker ranking provides a 2025 snapshot built from the latest publicly available internationally harmonised series.
Units: deaths per 100,000 population. Values are rounded to one decimal for readability. The Top 100 cut-off in this edition is approximately 2.6.
Data caveats and comparability (read before the ranking)
A single country number can hide very different realities. Use the checklist below to interpret the table correctly.
- Reporting lag: homicide data are published with delays. This 2025 ranking uses the latest available year per economy in the World Bank WDI series (many are 2023; some are older).
- Two main measurement systems: criminal justice (police/court records) and public health (death registration). Countries may differ in which channel is primary, and how cases are classified.
- Small-population volatility: microstates and small territories can show very high rates due to small denominators. Compare them with extra caution.
- Undercount risk: weak death registration, limited investigative capacity, or conflict can reduce the reliability of the reported rate.
- Non-comparable categories: “intentional homicide” is not the same as total violent deaths. It excludes war deaths and may exclude some categories depending on national rules.
If you need a tighter year-to-year comparison, treat the ranking as a starting point and then verify the exact year/metadata in the source.
Top 20 economies by homicide rate
The highest reported homicide rates are heavily concentrated in parts of the Caribbean and Latin America, with some countries in Southern Africa also ranking near the top.
Top 100 countries by homicide rate (per 100,000)
The table ranks economies by the latest reported homicide rate in the World Bank WDI series. The year used is shown to make data lags explicit.
Columns: Rank · Country/Economy · Homicide rate (per 100,000) · Year used.
| Rank | Country / Economy | Rate | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Turks and Caicos Islands | 76.3 | 2022 |
| 2 | St. Kitts and Nevis | 61.2 | 2020 |
| 3 | St. Vincent and the Grenadines | 54.0 | 2022 |
| 4 | Virgin Islands (U.S.) | 52.0 | 2020 |
| 5 | Jamaica | 49.3 | 2022 |
| 6 | Ecuador | 45.7 | 2023 |
| 7 | South Africa | 43.5 | 2023 |
| 8 | Haiti | 41.5 | 2022 |
| 9 | Trinidad and Tobago | 39.7 | 2022 |
| 10 | St. Lucia | 39.6 | 2022 |
| 11 | Lesotho | 38.1 | 2022 |
| 12 | Bahamas, The | 37.3 | 2022 |
| 13 | Honduras | 35.7 | 2023 |
| 14 | Belize | 32.7 | 2021 |
| 15 | Dominica | 32.7 | 2022 |
| 16 | St. Martin (French part) | 31.9 | 2021 |
| 17 | American Samoa | 31.4 | 2015 |
| 18 | Colombia | 26.1 | 2023 |
| 19 | Mexico | 25.1 | 2023 |
| 20 | Guatemala | 23.4 | 2023 |
| 21 | Brazil | 21.4 | 2023 |
| 22 | Eswatini | 20.6 | 2022 |
| 23 | Costa Rica | 20.1 | 2023 |
| 24 | Panama | 19.5 | 2023 |
| 25 | Guyana | 18.9 | 2020 |
| 26 | El Salvador | 18.2 | 2023 |
| 27 | Venezuela, RB | 17.7 | 2016 |
| 28 | Nicaragua | 16.7 | 2020 |
| 29 | Puerto Rico | 16.3 | 2020 |
| 30 | French Polynesia | 16.0 | 2020 |
| 31 | Cuba | 15.9 | 2022 |
| 32 | Zimbabwe | 15.6 | 2012 |
| 33 | Barbados | 15.5 | 2022 |
| 34 | Suriname | 15.4 | 2022 |
| 35 | Bolivia | 15.1 | 2020 |
| 36 | Botswana | 14.8 | 2022 |
| 37 | Cayman Islands | 14.7 | 2022 |
| 38 | Cape Verde | 14.4 | 2022 |
| 39 | Uruguay | 14.0 | 2023 |
| 40 | Namibia | 13.8 | 2022 |
| 41 | Saint Pierre and Miquelon | 13.7 | 2021 |
| 42 | Paraguay | 13.4 | 2023 |
| 43 | Peru | 13.2 | 2023 |
| 44 | Papua New Guinea | 13.1 | 2022 |
| 45 | Angola | 12.6 | 2010 |
| 46 | Nigeria | 12.6 | 2020 |
| 47 | Grenada | 12.5 | 2022 |
| 48 | Sierra Leone | 12.4 | 2020 |
| 49 | Micronesia, Fed. Sts. | 12.3 | 2021 |
| 50 | Congo, Rep. | 12.1 | 2012 |
| 51 | Cameroon | 11.9 | 2020 |
| 52 | Uganda | 11.6 | 2013 |
| 53 | Chad | 11.5 | 2020 |
| 54 | Liberia | 11.4 | 2020 |
| 55 | Somalia | 11.4 | 2010 |
| 56 | Sudan | 11.2 | 2010 |
| 57 | Mozambique | 11.1 | 2010 |
| 58 | Central African Republic | 11.0 | 2020 |
| 59 | Equatorial Guinea | 11.0 | 2011 |
| 60 | Gabon | 10.6 | 2012 |
| 61 | Congo, Dem. Rep. | 10.6 | 2012 |
| 62 | Mali | 10.5 | 2020 |
| 63 | Afghanistan | 10.3 | 2020 |
| 64 | Burkina Faso | 10.0 | 2020 |
| 65 | Côte d'Ivoire | 10.0 | 2020 |
| 66 | Gambia, The | 9.9 | 2020 |
| 67 | Bermuda | 9.8 | 2022 |
| 68 | Pakistan | 9.8 | 2020 |
| 69 | Tonga | 9.8 | 2021 |
| 70 | Madagascar | 9.7 | 2020 |
| 71 | Algeria | 9.6 | 2021 |
| 72 | Philippines | 9.6 | 2020 |
| 73 | Guinea | 9.5 | 2020 |
| 74 | Benin | 9.3 | 2020 |
| 75 | Niger | 9.3 | 2020 |
| 76 | Zambia | 9.0 | 2010 |
| 77 | Tanzania | 8.9 | 2011 |
| 78 | Fiji | 8.8 | 2021 |
| 79 | Guinea-Bissau | 8.7 | 2020 |
| 80 | Iran, Islamic Rep. | 8.5 | 2021 |
| 81 | United States | 6.3 | 2023 |
| 82 | Canada | 2.0 | 2023 |
| 83 | Bahrain | 6.3 | 2020 |
| 84 | Djibouti | 6.2 | 2020 |
| 85 | Russia | 6.2 | 2023 |
| 86 | Seychelles | 6.2 | 2022 |
| 87 | South Sudan | 6.0 | 2010 |
| 88 | Kenya | 5.9 | 2011 |
| 89 | Vanuatu | 5.8 | 2021 |
| 90 | Mongolia | 5.6 | 2022 |
| 91 | Ethiopia | 5.6 | 2010 |
| 92 | Mauritania | 5.4 | 2020 |
| 93 | Bhutan | 5.3 | 2022 |
| 94 | Vietnam | 5.0 | 2011 |
| 95 | Lebanon | 4.9 | 2020 |
| 96 | Azerbaijan | 4.9 | 2019 |
| 97 | Aruba | 2.7 | 2015 |
| 98 | Ghana | 4.7 | 2020 |
| 99 | Kiribati | 2.7 | 2021 |
| 100 | Myanmar | 2.6 | 2023 |
Regional patterns and clusters
Homicide rates are not evenly distributed. Even with data caveats, the global pattern is highly clustered: some regions combine elevated rates with many countries above 10 per 100,000, while others have most economies below 3 per 100,000.
Regional clusters (World Bank regions)
The chart below compares the median homicide rate by region (latest year per economy). Medians reduce the influence of very small-population outliers.
| Region | Economies | Median | Mean | Share ≥10 | Share ≥20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Latin America & Caribbean | 41 | 16.9 | 22.4 | 70.7% | 41.5% |
| North America | 3 | 5.8 | 4.6 | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 50 | 5.1 | 8.2 | 26.0% | 10.0% |
| South Asia | 8 | 2.4 | 4.4 | 12.5% | 0.0% |
| East Asia & Pacific | 33 | 1.8 | 3.9 | 9.1% | 3.0% |
| Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan | 21 | 1.3 | 2.2 | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Europe & Central Asia | 57 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Shares show the percentage of economies in a region at or above the threshold (using each economy's latest available year).
Links to inequality and youth demographics
Homicide is rarely explained by a single factor. Comparative research often points to a mix of institutional capacity (rule of law, policing and justice effectiveness), social cohesion (inequality and exclusion), and demographic pressure (youth bulges and rapid urbanisation). StatRanker readers typically use homicide rankings as a starting signal, then cross-check it against other structural indicators.
How to use this ranking analytically
- Compare high-homicide economies to their income inequality profile (Gini) to see if violence is concentrated in high-inequality settings.
- Cross-check the age structure and population scale: large young populations can amplify risks when labour markets and institutions lag.
- Use migration and unemployment pages to contextualise shocks, displacement, and labour-market stress.
Methodology
- Metric: intentional homicides per 100,000 people (World Bank WDI indicator VC.IHR.PSRC.P5).
- Ranking logic: for each economy, we take the latest non-null value available in the series; economies are then sorted descending.
- Year labeling: the table shows the year used for each economy to make reporting lags explicit.
- Coverage: 196 economies with at least one observation; 21 economies in the World Bank country list have no value in this indicator at the time of compilation.
- Rounding: values rounded to 1 decimal for display; the underlying series is continuous.
- Regional clusters: region medians/means computed from the same “latest-by-economy” dataset.
This is an analytical ranking designed for comparability and navigation. It is not a substitute for country-level statistical releases, which can provide richer breakdowns by victim/offender profile, weapon type, and location.
FAQ
What exactly is counted as “intentional homicide”?
Why do some small islands appear at the very top of the ranking?
Does a higher homicide rate always mean a country is “more dangerous” for visitors?
Why are some countries missing or using older years?
Can homicide rates be compared directly with inequality or unemployment rankings?
What is a “high” homicide rate in global context?
Sources and definitions
- World Bank (WDI): Indicator VC.IHR.PSRC.P5 (Intentional homicides per 100,000 people). Indicator page
- World Bank API (for reproducibility): JSON endpoint
- UNODC: Intentional homicide statistics and methodological documentation. UNODC data portal
- World Bank API documentation: Indicators API docs
If your use case requires strict year alignment, rebuild the table for a single year (e.g., 2022 or 2023) and accept lower coverage.
Download: Homicide Rate 2025 — Tables & Charts (ZIP)
