Living on the Murderous Streets of America??

The March for Our Lives reinforced the narratvie that the US has returned to the days of Al Capone and Dutch Schultz. As the story is told, compared to a country like Great Britain, where guns are strictly controlled, America is a cesspool of blood and death. The numbers don’t lie…or do they? The United States annual death rate was 817.3 per hundred thousand in 2015, wherein the UK, the rate was closer to 1010.0 per hundred thousand in 2015.

So statistically you’re less likely to die in America than the UK, though this doesn’t take into account demographic differences in age distribution.

But what about the murders?

The intentional homicide rate in America is 3.9 per hundred thousand, which is notably higher than the UK rate of 0.9 per hundred thousand. Like the raw death rate, this statistic has nuance to it. America’s homicide rate is driven by the black market trade in controlled substances, and the homicide rate outside of the drug trade is a lot closer to the UK rate. Even the raw rate is a mere 0.477% of the US death rate, compared to the UK’S 0.089%, which isn’t really a large chunk.

How does the US rank worldwide? WikiPedia provides this handy table based on United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime data.

UNODC murder rates (per 100,000 inhabitants). Most recent year UNODC has published

Country (or dependent territory, subnational area, etc.)	Rate	Count	Region	Subregion	Year listed	Notes
Burundi	4.03	436	Africa	Eastern Africa	2014
Comoros	7.60	60	Africa	Eastern Africa	2015
Djibouti	6.77	60	Africa	Eastern Africa	2015
Eritrea	7.46	390	Africa	Eastern Africa	2015
Ethiopia	7.60	7,552	Africa	Eastern Africa	2015
Kenya	5.75	2,648	Africa	Eastern Africa	2015
Madagascar	0.62	130	Africa	Eastern Africa	2010
Malawi	1.78	279	Africa	Eastern Africa	2012
Mauritius	2.71	34	Africa	Eastern Africa	2011
Mayotte (France)	5.93	12	Africa	Eastern Africa	2009
Mozambique	3.39	849	Africa	Eastern Africa	2011
Réunion (France)	1.82	15	Africa	Eastern Africa	2009
Rwanda	4.51	500	Africa	Eastern Africa	2013
Seychelles	2.15	2	Africa	Eastern Africa	2010
Somalia	5.56	599	Africa	Eastern Africa	2015	notes
South Sudan	13.70	1,504	Africa	Eastern Africa	2012	notes
Uganda	11.84	4,473	Africa	Eastern Africa	2014
Tanzania	7.01	3,746	Africa	Eastern Africa	2015
Zambia	5.85	814	Africa	Eastern Africa	2010
Zimbabwe	6.74	981	Africa	Eastern Africa	2012
Angola	9.65	2,414	Africa	Middle Africa	2015
Cameroon	5.93	1,385	Africa	Middle Africa	2015
Central African Republic	13.09	642	Africa	Middle Africa	2015	notes
Chad	9.02	1,266	Africa	Middle Africa	2015
Republic of the Congo	10.88	466	Africa	Middle Africa	2015
Democratic Republic of the Congo	13.36	10,322	Africa	Middle Africa	2015
Equatorial Guinea	3.21	27	Africa	Middle Africa	2015
Gabon	9.00	155	Africa	Middle Africa	2015
Sao Tome and Principe	3.44	6	Africa	Middle Africa	2011
Algeria	1.37	542	Africa	Northern Africa	2015
Egypt	3.23	2,703	Africa	Northern Africa	2011
Libya	2.49	156	Africa	Northern Africa	2015	notes
Morocco	1.05	355	Africa	Northern Africa	2014
Sudan	6.45	2,596	Africa	Northern Africa	2015	notes
Tunisia	3.05	332	Africa	Northern Africa	2012
Botswana	10.53	220	Africa	Southern Africa	2011
Lesotho	38.00	764	Africa	Southern Africa	2010
Namibia	16.93	388	Africa	Southern Africa	2012
South Africa	34.27	18,673	Africa	Southern Africa	2015
Swaziland	8.16	102	Africa	Southern Africa	2013
Benin	6.01	654	Africa	Western Africa	2015
Burkina Faso	0.71	117	Africa	Western Africa	2012
Cape Verde	8.84	46	Africa	Western Africa	2015
Ivory Coast	11.84	2,688	Africa	Western Africa	2015
Gambia	9.07	181	Africa	Western Africa	2015
Ghana	1.70	423	Africa	Western Africa	2011
Guinea	8.46	1,067	Africa	Western Africa	2015
Guinea-Bissau	9.17	169	Africa	Western Africa	2015
Liberia	3.22	135	Africa	Western Africa	2012
Mali	10.82	1,905	Africa	Western Africa	2015
Mauritania	10.22	416	Africa	Western Africa	2015
Niger	4.47	788	Africa	Western Africa	2012
Nigeria	9.79	17,843	Africa	Western Africa	2015
Senegal	7.30	1,105	Africa	Western Africa	2015
Sierra Leone	1.92	124	Africa	Western Africa	2015
Togo	9.14	668	Africa	Western Africa	2015
Anguilla (UK)	27.66	4	Americas	Caribbean	2014
Antigua and Barbuda	11.23	10	Americas	Caribbean	2012
Aruba (Netherlands)	3.94	4	Americas	Caribbean	2010
Bahamas	29.81	111	Americas	Caribbean	2012
Barbados	10.91	31	Americas	Caribbean	2015
British Virgin Islands (UK)	8.37	2	Americas	Caribbean	2006
Cayman Islands (UK)	14.74	8	Americas	Caribbean	2009
Cuba	4.19	477	Americas	Caribbean	2012
Dominica	8.40	6	Americas	Caribbean	2011
Dominican Republic	17.39	1,810	Americas	Caribbean	2014
Grenada	7.52	8	Americas	Caribbean	2014
Guadeloupe (France)	7.90	36	Americas	Caribbean	2009
Haiti	10.04	1,033	Americas	Caribbean	2012
Jamaica	43.21	1,207	Americas	Caribbean	2012
Martinique (France)	2.78	11	Americas	Caribbean	2009
Montserrat (UK)	20.39	1	Americas	Caribbean	2008
Puerto Rico (US)	15.86	584	Americas	Caribbean	2015
Saint Kitts and Nevis	33.55	18	Americas	Caribbean	2012
Saint Lucia	21.56	39	Americas	Caribbean	2012
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	25.61	28	Americas	Caribbean	2012
Trinidad and Tobago	30.88	420	Americas	Caribbean	2015
Turks and Caicos Islands (UK)	6.61	2	Americas	Caribbean	2009
United States Virgin Islands (US)	52.64	56	Americas	Caribbean	2010
Belize	34.40	121	Americas	Central America	2014
Costa Rica	11.77	566	Americas	Central America	2015
El Salvador	108.64	6,656	Americas	Central America	2015
Guatemala	31.21	4,998	Americas	Central America	2014
Honduras	63.75	5,148	Americas	Central America	2015
Mexico	16.35	20,762	Americas	Central America	2015	notes
Nicaragua	11.49	675	Americas	Central America	2012
Panama	11.38	447	Americas	Central America	2015
Bermuda (UK)	6.45	4	Americas	Northern America	2015
Canada	1.68	604	Americas	Northern America	2015
Greenland (Denmark)	12.46	7	Americas	Northern America	2015
Saint Pierre and Miquelon (France)	15.94	1	Americas	Northern America	2009
United States	4.88	15,696	Americas	Northern America	2015
Argentina	6.53	2,837	Americas	South America	2015
Bolivia	12.40	1,270	Americas	South America	2012
Brazil	26.74	55,574	Americas	South America	2015
Chile	3.59	638	Americas	South America	2014
Colombia	26.50	12,782	Americas	South America	2015	notes
Ecuador	8.23	1,309	Americas	South America	2014
French Guiana (France)	13.17	30	Americas	South America	2009
Guyana	19.42	149	Americas	South America	2015
Paraguay	9.29	617	Americas	South America	2015
Peru	7.16	2,247	Americas	South America	2015
Suriname	10.68	58	Americas	South America	2015
Uruguay	8.42	289	Americas	South America	2015
Venezuela	57.15	17,778	Americas	South America	2015
Kazakhstan	4.84	853	Asia	Central Asia	2015
Kyrgyzstan	5.12	304	Asia	Central Asia	2015
Tajikistan	1.44	117	Asia	Central Asia	2013
Turkmenistan	4.20	225	Asia	Central Asia	2015
Uzbekistan	2.99	893	Asia	Central Asia	2015
China	0.74	10,083	Asia	Eastern Asia	2014	notes
Hong Kong	0.30	22	Asia	Eastern Asia	2015
Macao	0.17	1	Asia	Eastern Asia	2015
North Korea	4.41	1,110	Asia	Eastern Asia	2015
Japan	0.31	395	Asia	Eastern Asia	2014
Mongolia	7.23	214	Asia	Eastern Asia	2015
South Korea	0.74	372	Asia	Eastern Asia	2014
Taiwan	0.82	192	Asia	Eastern Asia	2015
Brunei	0.49	2	Asia	South-Eastern Asia	2013
Cambodia	1.84	268	Asia	South-Eastern Asia	2011
East Timor	3.69	39	Asia	South-Eastern Asia	2010
Indonesia	0.50	1,277	Asia	South-Eastern Asia	2014
Laos	6.87	467	Asia	South-Eastern Asia	2015
Malaysia	1.92	540	Asia	South-Eastern Asia	2010
Myanmar	2.42	1,304	Asia	South-Eastern Asia	2015
Philippines	9.84	9,756	Asia	South-Eastern Asia	2014
Singapore	0.25	14	Asia	South-Eastern Asia	2015
Thailand	3.51	2,387	Asia	South-Eastern Asia	2015
Vietnam	1.52	1,358	Asia	South-Eastern Asia	2011
Afghanistan	6.55	1,948	Asia	Southern Asia	2012	notes
Bangladesh	2.51	4,035	Asia	Southern Asia	2015
Bhutan	2.75	21	Asia	Southern Asia	2014
India	3.21	41,623	Asia	Southern Asia	2014
Iran	4.12	3,259	Asia	Southern Asia	2015
Maldives	0.85	3	Asia	Southern Asia	2013
Nepal	2.27	639	Asia	Southern Asia	2014
Pakistan	7.81	13,846	Asia	Southern Asia	2012	notes
Sri Lanka	2.91	598	Asia	Southern Asia	2013
Armenia	2.45	74	Asia	Western Asia	2015
Azerbaijan	2.45	236	Asia	Western Asia	2014
Bahrain	0.54	7	Asia	Western Asia	2011
Cyprus	1.29	15	Asia	Western Asia	2015
Georgia	2.68	108	Asia	Western Asia	2014
Iraq	8.0	2,628	Asia	Western Asia	2012	notes
Israel	1.36	110	Asia	Western Asia	2015	notes
Jordan	2.00	144	Asia	Western Asia	2013
Kuwait	1.78	61	Asia	Western Asia	2012
Lebanon	3.95	231	Asia	Western Asia	2015
Palestine	0.60	26	Asia	Western Asia	2012	notes
Oman	1.06	34	Asia	Western Asia	2011
Qatar	8.10	181	Asia	Western Asia	2015
Saudi Arabia	1.50	472	Asia	Western Asia	2015
Syria	2.23	463	Asia	Western Asia	2010	notes
Turkey	4.30	3,216	Asia	Western Asia	2012
United Arab Emirates	0.66	60	Asia	Western Asia	2015
Yemen	6.67	1,703	Asia	Western Asia	2013
Belarus	3.58	340	Europe	Eastern Europe	2014
Bulgaria	1.80	129	Europe	Eastern Europe	2015
Czech Republic	0.75	79	Europe	Eastern Europe	2015
Hungary	1.48	146	Europe	Eastern Europe	2014
Poland	0.74	286	Europe	Eastern Europe	2015
Moldova	3.19	130	Europe	Eastern Europe	2014
Romania	1.49	291	Europe	Eastern Europe	2015
Russia	11.31	16,232	Europe	Eastern Europe	2015
Slovakia	0.88	48	Europe	Eastern Europe	2015
Ukraine	4.36	1,988	Europe	Eastern Europe	2010
Denmark	0.99	56	Europe	Northern Europe	2015
Estonia	3.20	42	Europe	Northern Europe	2015
Finland	1.60	88	Europe	Northern Europe	2015
Iceland	0.91	3	Europe	Northern Europe	2015
Ireland	0.64	30	Europe	Northern Europe	2015
Latvia	4.11	81	Europe	Northern Europe	2015
Lithuania	5.98	172	Europe	Northern Europe	2015
Norway	0.56	29	Europe	Northern Europe	2014
Sweden	1.15	112	Europe	Northern Europe	2015
United Kingdom	0.92	594	Europe	Northern Europe	2014
Albania	2.28	117	Europe	Southern Europe	2015
Andorra	0.00	0	Europe	Southern Europe	2015
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1.50	57	Europe	Southern Europe	2015
Croatia	0.87	37	Europe	Southern Europe	2015
Greece	0.85	93	Europe	Southern Europe	2015
Italy	0.78	469	Europe	Southern Europe	2015
Kosovo	1.60	30	Europe	Southern Europe	2015
Malta	0.96	4	Europe	Southern Europe	2015
Montenegro	2.72	17	Europe	Southern Europe	2015
Portugal	0.97	100	Europe	Southern Europe	2015
San Marino	0.00	0	Europe	Southern Europe	2011
Serbia	1.13	100	Europe	Southern Europe	2015
Slovenia	1.21	25	Europe	Southern Europe	2015
Spain	0.66	303	Europe	Southern Europe	2015
Macedonia	1.59	33	Europe	Southern Europe	2014
Austria	0.51	44	Europe	Western Europe	2015
Belgium	1.95	220	Europe	Western Europe	2015
France	1.58	1,017	Europe	Western Europe	2015
Germany	0.85	682	Europe	Western Europe	2015
Liechtenstein	0.00	0	Europe	Western Europe	2015
Luxembourg	0.72	4	Europe	Western Europe	2014
Monaco	0.00	0	Europe	Western Europe	2008
Netherlands	0.61	104	Europe	Western Europe	2015
Switzerland	0.69	57	Europe	Western Europe	2015
Australia	0.98	236	Oceania	Australasia	2015
New Zealand	0.91	41	Oceania	Australasia	2014
Fiji	2.97	26	Oceania	Melanesia	2012
New Caledonia (France)	3.29	8	Oceania	Melanesia	2009
Papua New Guinea	10.42	713	Oceania	Melanesia	2010
Solomon Islands	3.77	19	Oceania	Melanesia	2008
Vanuatu	2.13	6	Oceania	Melanesia	2015
Guam (US)	2.49	4	Oceania	Micronesia	2011
Kiribati	7.50	8	Oceania	Micronesia	2012
Marshall Islands	4.68	2	Oceania	Micronesia	2013
Micronesia, Fed. Sts.	4.67	5	Oceania	Micronesia	2015
Nauru	1.31	x	Oceania	Micronesia	2012
Palau	3.11	1	Oceania	Micronesia	2012
Cook Islands	3.06	1	Oceania	Polynesia	2012
French Polynesia (France)	0.38	1	Oceania	Polynesia	2009
Niue	3.07	x	Oceania	Polynesia	2012
Samoa	3.15	6	Oceania	Polynesia	2013
Tonga	0.95	1	Oceania	Polynesia	2012
Tuvalu	20.28	2	Oceania	Polynesia	2012

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Wayne Creed

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