Homicide statistics by gender

In a nutshell

At a global level, men represent both the majority of victims and the majority of perpetrators of homicide. According to the 2023 UNODC Global Study on Homicide, in 2021, at a global level, 81% of homicide victims were men. In 2021, males accounted for most homicide victims in all jurisdictions except in Austria, the Czech Republic, Iceland, Latvia, Norway, Slovenia and Switzerland, where females were slightly more likely to be homicide victims. The global homicide rate was 9.3 per 100,000 males and 2.2 per 100,000 females; and 90% of homicide suspects brought into formal contact with the police were men. According to the most recent data from World Bank Group, the highest rate per 100,000 inhabitants for female homicide victims is in Central African Republic, Antigua and Barbuda and Jamaica, and the highest rate per 100,000 inhabitants for male homicide victims is in US Virgin Islands, Jamaica and Venezuela. In 2020, the average percentage of women as homicide victims among European Union countries was 37%, with Latvia having the largest percentage of women homicide victims at 60%.

Related on Lably

Through Iceland, Switzerland and World Bank Group

LabPw Sunshine Island Lab · Class 6–11The Restless Earth Lab · Class 10–12Evolution & Natural Selection

The pattern of males constituting both the majority of perpetrators and of victims has been also observed in studies recording lethal violence in chimpanzees.

Statistics

The below table shows the reported annual homicide rate by sex per 100,000 inhabitants according to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

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