The most common type of violent crime is murder. Whether murder is self-inflicted, homicidal, or accidental, murder rates around the world vary significantly by country. Several factors contribute to murder rates and overall crime rates. These include the wealth of a nation, effective law enforcement, strict weapons regulations, severity of punishments for committing murder, and more. Some drivers of homicide are organized crime, gender stereotypes, inequality, unemployment, political instability, firearms, and drugs.
By identifying these, countries can adopt policies that will indirectly help reduce their homicide rates. Since the start of the twenty-first century, organized crime has resulted in roughly the same number of killings as all armed conflicts across the world combined. Countries with high firearm rates tend to have higher intentional homicide rates. There are several countries, however, that have astonishingly high homicide rates.
Here are the top 20 countries with the highest murder rates in the world.
| Rank | Country | Murder rates per 100,000 people |
| 1. | El Salvador | 82.84 |
| 2. | Honduras | 56.52 |
| 3. | Venezuela | 56.33 |
| 4. | United States Virgin Islands | 49.26 |
| 5. | Jamaica | 47.01 |
| 6. | Lesotho | 41.25 |
| 7. | Belize | 37.60 |
| 8. | Saint Vincent And The Grenadines | 36.46 |
| 9. | Saint Kitts And Nevis | 34.23 |
| 10. | South Africa | 33.97 |
| 11. | Trinidad And Tobago | 30.88 |
| 12. | Brazil | 29.53 |
| 13. | Bahamas | 28.40 |
| 14. | Guatemala | 27.26 |
| 15. | Colombia | 25.50 |
| 16. | Central African Republic | 19.76 |
| 17. | Saint Lucia | 19.27 |
| 18. | Mexico | 19.26 |
| 19. | Curacao | 19.19 |
| 20. | Tuvalu | 18.65 |
