Countries by Homicide Rate

What Homicide Rate Measures

Intentional homicide deaths per 100,000 people, from OECD How's Life / Well-Being.

Why This Ranking Matters

Examining Homicide Rate across all countries reveals patterns that might not be obvious at the national level. Regional clusters, outlier nations, and historical trajectories all become clearer when the full global picture is assembled in a single ranking.

Global Range

Values range from 0.10 per 100k (Ireland) to 27.4 per 100k (Mexico) — a 274-fold difference across 38 countries.

Regional Patterns

European countries dominate this ranking, holding 11 of the top 20 positions. This strong regional concentration suggests shared economic, geographic, or policy factors that drive higher values across the continent.

The distribution is highly right-skewed — a few countries have exceptionally high values that pull the average well above the median. The median (0.80 per 100k) is far more representative than the mean (2.71 per 100k).

Notable Outliers

The top of the ranking is competitive: Mexico and Colombia are separated by only 8%, indicating that the leading positions could shift with updated data.

Continental Leaders

North America

Mexico

27.4 per 100k

South America

Chile

3.90 per 100k

Europe

Latvia

2.40 per 100k

Asia

Israel

1.60 per 100k

Oceania

New Zealand

1.30 per 100k