Interactive Map Exposes the World's Most Murderous Places

Lashdots writes with this selection from a Fast Company story: In 2012, 437,000 people were killed worldwide, yielding a global average murder rate of 6.2 per 100,000 inhabitants. A third of those homicides occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean, home to just 8% of the world's population. But data on violent death can be difficult to obtain, since governments are often reluctant to share their homicide statistics. What data is available is sometimes inconsistent and inconclusive. Adds Lashdots: To make this data clear and to better address the problem of global homicide, a new open-source visualization tool, the Homicide Monitor, tracks the total number of murders and murder rates per country, broken down by gender, age and, where the data is available, the type of weapon used, including firearms, sharp weapons, blunt weapons, poisoning, and others. For the most violent region in the world, the 40 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, you can also see statistics by state and city. That geographic specificity helps to underscore an important point about murders, says Robert Muggah, the research director and program coordinator for Citizen Security at the Rio de Janeiro-based Igarapé Institute, in the above-lined story: "In most cities, the vast majority of violence takes place on just a few street corners, at certain times of the day, and among specific people."

Comments

Depends how it's counted.

[Anonymous Coward]

If a gang kills 6 rival gang members in one incident, does it count as 6 murders or 1? I'd argue that such a place would actually be "safer" than having 6 independent murders taking place.

Same goes for terrorism. If a bomb goes off killing a dozen, is it "murder" is does it fall under another category?

Also, access to emergency healthcare is a HUGE factor. If you get stabbed in the middle of nowhere, you're a goner, if you get stabbed next to a hospital (most major western cities) and care gets to you while you're still breathing, there's a pretty good chance you'll live. So lower homicide rate doesn't tell you much about the rate of such incidents.

Overly done graphic

[tomhath]

Aside from the gaping holes in the data for many countries, the use of a spinning globe is a nuisance. Just display a map, it doesn't have to move around.

What is a homicide?

[tranquilidad]

Countries don't count homicides the same way. In England and Wales, as an example, deaths don't count as homicides unless, and until, there is a conviction for the death. Here is a report that highlights that difference: www.parliament.uk

35. Homicide statistics too vary widely. In some developing countries, the statistics are known to be far from complete. Figures for crimes labelled as homicide in various countries are simply not comparable. Since 1967, homicide figures for England and Wales have been adjusted to exclude any cases which do not result in conviction, or where the person is not prosecuted on grounds of self defence or otherwise. This reduces the apparent number of homicides by between 13 per cent and 15 per cent. The adjustment is made only in respect of figures shown in one part of the Annual Criminal Statistics. In another part relating to the use of firearms, no adjustment is made. A table of the number of homicides in which firearms were used in England and Wales will therefore differ according to which section of the annual statistics was used as its base. Similarly in statistics relating to the use of firearms, a homicide will be recorded where the firearm was used as a blunt instrument, but in the specific homicide statistics, that case will be shown under "blunt instrument".

36. Many countries, including the United States, do not adjust their statistics down in that way and their figures include cases of self defence, killings by police and justifiable homicides. In Portugal, cases in which the cause of death is unknown are included in the homicide figures, inflating the apparent homicide rate very considerably.

Re:Honduran Gun Control Laws.

[Anonymous Coward]

1) Honduras is a country.
2) Honduras was at the top of the murder list long before they enacted the gun control laws you mention.
3) Honduras has one of the weakest, most corrupt governments in the world. It has trouble enforcing even its most trivial laws.

So, country has runaway gun violence and enacts restrictive gun laws in response...but country's government lacks resources to enforce said laws and runaway gun violence continues.

Re:How useful is this?

[BarbaraHudson]

Surprise - Greenland doesn't come to mind, but it is listed as almost 2x the murder rate of Russia. It's the suicide capital of the world.

Re:US South

[antiperimetaparalogo]

Better than an alternate theory is actual facts: In the U.S. [...]

I agree with you Sir, so i post some official FACTS that support your comment:

2012 Arrests by Race, Black, percent distribution: murder and nonnegligent manslaughter (49.4%), forcible rape (32.5%), robbery (54.9%); Census Population by Race, Black: 13.2%.

source: FBI http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cj... - census http://quickfacts.census.gov/q...

TL:DR;

[UnknownSoldier]

Remind me to never visit Brazil, Mexico, or Honduras.

Summary, in alphabetical order

* Brazil x 19 !!!
* Columbia
* Honduras x 2
* El Salvador
* Guatemala
* Jamaica
* Louisiana, USA
* Maryland, USA
* Mexico x 10 !!
* Michigan, USA
* Missouri, USA
* South Africa
* Venezuela x 4 !

Top 50 List without all the bullshit images:

1. San Pedro Sula, Honduras had 171.20 homicides per 100,000 residents.
2. Caracas, Venezuela had 115.98 homicides per 100,000 residents.
3. Acapulco, Mexico had 104.16 homicides per 100,000 residents.
4. João Pessoa, Brazil had 79.41 homicides per 100,000 residents.
5. Distrito Central, Honduras had 77.65 homicides per 100,000 residents.
6. MaceiÃ, Brazil had 72.91 homicides per 100,000 residents.
7. Valencia, Venezuela had 71.08 homicides per 100,000 residents.
8. Fortaleza, Brazil had 66.55 homicides per 100,000 residents.
9. Cali, Colombia had 65.25 homicides per 100,000 residents.
10. São LuÃs, Brazil had 64.71 homicides per 100,000 residents.
11. Natal, Brazil had 63.68 homicides per 100,000 residents.
12. Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela had 62.13 homicides per 100,000 residents.
13. San Salvador, El Salvador had 61.21 homicides per 100,000 residents.
14. Cape Town, South Africa had 60 homicides per 100,000 residents.
15. Vitoria, Brazil had 57 homicides per 100,000 residents.
16. CuiabÃ, Brazil had 56.46 homicides per 100,000 residents.
17. Salvador (and RMS), Brazil had 54.31 homicides per 100,000 residents.
18. Belém, Brazil had 53.06 homicides per 100,000 residents.
19. St. Louis, Missouri had 49.93 homicides per 100,000 residents.
20. Teresina, Brazil had 49.49 homicides per 100,000 residents.
21. Barquisimeto, Venezuela had 46.46 homicides per 100,000 residents.
22. Detroit, Michigan had 44.87 homicides per 100,000 residents.
23. GoiÃnia, Brazil had 44.82 homicides per 100,000 residents.
24. CuliacÃn, Mexico had 42.17 homicides per 100,000 residents.
25. Guatemala, Guatemala had 41.90 homicides per 100,000 residents.
26. Kingston, Jamaica had 40.59 homicides per 100,000 residents.
27. JuÃrez, Mexico had 39.94 homicides per 100,000 residents.
28. New Orleans, Louisiana had 39.61 homicides per 100,000 residents.
29. Recife, Brazil had 39.05 homicides per 100,000 residents.
30. Campina Grande, Brazil had 37.97 homicides per 100,000 residents.
31. ObregÃn, Mexico had 37.71 homicides per 100,000 residents.
32. Palmira, Colombia had 37.66 homicides per 100,000 residents.
33. Manaus, Brazil had 37.07 homicides per 100,000 residents.
34. Nuevo Laredo, Mexico had 34.92 homicides per 100,000 residents.
35. Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa had 34.89 homicides per 100,000 residents.
36. Pereira, Colombia had 34.68 homicides per 100,000 residents.
37. Porto Alegre, Brazil had 34.65 homicides per 100,000 residents.
38. Durban, South Africa had 34.48 homicides per 100,000 residents.
39. Aracaju, Brazil had 34.19 homicides per 100,000 residents.
40. Baltimore, Maryland had 33.92 homicides per 100,000 residents.
41. Victoria, Mexico had 33.91 homicides per 100,000 residents.
42. Belo Horizonte, Brazil had 33.39 homicides per 100,000 residents.
43. Chihuahua, Mexico had 33.29 homicides per 100,000 residents.
44. Curitiba, Brazil had 31.48 homicides per 100,000 residents.
45. Tijuana, Mexico had 29.90 homicides per 100,000 residents.
46. MacapÃ, Brazil, had 28.87 homicides per 100,000 residents.
47. CÃcuta, Colombia, had 28.43 homicides per 100,000 residents.
48. TorreÃn, Mexico, had 27.81 homicides per 100,000 residents.
49. MedellÃn, Colombia, had 26.91 homicides per 100,000 resident
50. Cuernavaca, Mexico, had 25.45 homicides per 100,000 residents.

I feel bad for all the people in Brazil and Mexico.

Re:How useful is this?

[Gavagai80]

The entire nation of Greenland is a small community (about 50,000 people).