Title: Homicides - Our World in Data
Headings: Homicides
Homicides
Summary
All our charts on Homicides
In some countries, homicide is one of the leading causes of death
More than 400,000 people die from homicide each year
Homicide is a leading cause of death in young adults
The global distribution of homicides
Less than 1% of global deaths are from homicide, but in some countries it’s close to 10%
There are large differences in homicide rates across the world
How have homicide rates changed over time?
How have homicide rates changed over the long run until today?
Have homicides increased or decreased in recent decades?
Who are the victims of homicide?
Homicide deaths by age
Homicide rates by age
Child homicides
How and where are homicides committed?
By weapon/method
Definitions & Measurement
Origin and limitations of the available data on homicides
Comparisons of recent estimates
Data quality for long historical estimates
Data Sources
Historical sources
Homicide Data in the Post-War Time
Recent homicide estimates
Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), Global Burden of Disease (GBD)

Content: 3
We see that homicide ranks within the top ten causes of death globally. Using the “change country” toggle you can explore this data for countries and regions. In Latin America homicides are the leading cause of death in 15 to 49 year olds. Twice as many young adults die from homicide as from road accidents. In Honduras, it’s four times as many. 4
Click to open interactive version
The global distribution of homicides
Less than 1% of global deaths are from homicide, but in some countries it’s close to 10%
Globally, 0.7% deaths in 2017 were the result of homicide. In the map shown here we see how this share of deaths varies across the world. There are very large differences between countries and regions. Across most of Western Europe, for example, less than 0.1% of deaths were the result of homicide. Across much of Eastern Europe, North Africa, Asia and Oceania, it was less than 0.5%.