Several of the most dangerous countries in the world fall within a small radius in the Caribbean, a longstanding hotbed for organized crime.
These countries have homicide rates that are more than fourfold the rate of America, which stands at 6.4 per 100,000 people. Going further, the vast majority of killings are driven by criminal activity using illegal guns that are often smuggled in from the United States.
This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Niccolo Conte, shows the countries with the highest murder rates, based on data from UNODC.
Top 10 Countries With the Highest Homicide Rates
Here are the countries with the most killings per 100,000 people as of 2022:
Data for St. Kitts and Nevis as of 2021. Data for South Africa as of 2020.
With a murder rate that is almost 10 times higher than the global average, Jamaica ranks first.
In January alone, there were 65 killings across the country, leading the State Department to heighten travel warnings for Americans. Not only that, homicides are even becoming more common in all-inclusive resorts. Often, police action is lackluster in response to the ongoing deadly incidents, and prosecution is slow.
Along with Jamaica, island nations Trinidad and Tobago and the Bahamas fall on this list.
Ranking sixth globally is South Africa, with a homicide rate of 34 per 100,000 people. Last year, 75 people on average were killed each day, while robberies averaged 400 daily. One part of the problem is that the country is known to have widespread criminal activity across mining, construction, and taxi industries. Another major factor is that the country serves as a transit hub for illicit drugs that are transported from Afghanistan to Europe.
In South America, Ecuador ranks as the most dangerous country, driven by escalating gang violence. While the country had some of the lowest homicide rates in the region in 2019, drug gangs have increasingly gripped the country.
In January, gang members stormed a news station, detonated bombs through the streets, and kidnapped policemen when the president issued a state of emergency after a notorious cartel leader escaped from prison. More recently, an Ecuadoran mayor was found dead amid the country’s third month in emergency lockdowns.
