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Countries with the Most Murders

Can you name the countries with the most intentional homicides?
From various sources as compiled by Wikipedia
Murders in underdeveloped countries are very likely under counted
D. R. Congo is missing data
Quiz by
Quizzer6794
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Last updated: March 21, 2025
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First submittedSeptember 6, 2015
Times taken150,039
Average score65.0%
Rating4.55
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Murders
Country
44,367
Brazil
44,200
Nigeria
40,130
India
32,252
Mexico
27,272
South Africa
19,796
United States
13,108
Colombia
Murders
Country
10,729
Pakistan
9,866
Russia
8,221
Ecuador
8,153
Ethiopia
7,157
China
5,459
Iraq
4,789
Haiti
Murders
Country
4,764
Philippines
4,143
Uganda
3,830
Bangladesh
3,568
Venezuela
3,520
Guatemala
3,347
Honduras
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111 Recent Comments
+13
Level 59
Oct 16, 2015
The US is one of the highest because of its four top cities: New Orleans, Chicago, Detroit and Washington DC. If we took those cities out, then the US would not make this list. Those four cities are the strictest over gun control in the US. Honduras has the most per capita. Swtizerland has the least murders per capita. Honduras bans guns, Switzerland REQUIRES citizens to own guns. This is why we don't need to ban guns.
+83
Level 79
Oct 16, 2015
Right because if you have a problem with something you should do nothing to try and address it. George Burns lived to be 100 years old. Aaliyah, who according to friends never drank or smoked, died when she was 22. So obviously if someone has lung cancer the solution is to smoke more cigars.

Legislating against anything is pointless because criminals won't obey the laws anyway. This is why there's no point in making murder, rape, or theft illegal. Also why we don't license people to drive cars. That just creates a hassle for law-abiding citizens since those who will drive without knowing are won't stop anyway and there's no point trying to stop them.

+15
Level 82
May 28, 2019
@kalbahamut Good comment.
+10
Level 70
Dec 14, 2020
Don't encourage him!
+7
Level 78
Sep 28, 2022
Well, the comment employs clear logic. And the one it was in response to deserved to be shredded.
+3
Level 47
Apr 16, 2025
So what youre saying is that certain people shouldnt be able to own guns based off of statistics.
+1
Level 28
Oct 16, 2015
Good comment.
+24
Level 33
Oct 16, 2015
manchesterutd10's comment is a perfect case study in "cherry picking" your data to fit a predetermined narrative.
+1
Level 59
Oct 28, 2016
Sometimes maybe look at things with a bit of common sense rather than try to be too analytical...
+11
Level 55
Apr 23, 2017
those cities are absolutey not the strictest gun control cities. detroit!? come on, people move to michigan just to pack
+33
Level ∞
May 13, 2017
I'm not going to argue the validity of gun control, but @manchesterutd10 is incorrect. This isn't hard to look up. Remove the number of murders committed in those cities, and the U.S. is still easily on the list.
+20
Level 49
Aug 9, 2017
Completely wrong manchesterutd10. The states with the highest murder rate are states with little to no gun control. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_homicide_rate. Give a look at the top 15 States and let me know how many voted Republican in the last election (answer=11, including the top 4). If looking only at gun related murder, give a look at this list: http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/death-by-gun-top-20-states-with-highest-rates/21/ (give you a hint, 14 of the top 15 are Republican). Alaska is at the top. Then you can go back and establish a more informed opinion about gun control.
+20
Level 46
Dec 9, 2017
Or if you really think about it, murder is higher in urban areas than others... Is your mind blown yet, manchesterutd?
+1
Level 82
May 28, 2019
mind = B L O W N
+17
Level 68
Mar 16, 2020
Switzerland does not require citizens to own guns. It requires citizens to serve in the military, and while they're in the military, of course they own guns, but citizens who aren't in the military are absolutely not required to own guns, and most citizens don't own guns. The Swiss have around 25 guns for every 100 residents. Americans have around 125 guns for every 100 residents (which is incredible when you consider how many people have never owned a gun). Moreover, there are strict rules regarding the possession and treatment of guns, e.g., guns need to be disassembled and locked up when in the home. Conceal/carry permits are very rare. There are lots and lots of laws regarding Swiss gun ownership. We can have rational discussions about gun rights, but cherry-picking and egregiously characterizing information from NRA memes does not help anything. Manchester's comment is unmoored from fact, and should not be considered in any discussion about gun rights.
+9
Level 74
Apr 6, 2025
Yes, those 4 cities are the most dangerous because of gun controls. They definitely did not bring in stricter gun controls in response to being the most dangerous. I'm sure you have the data to back this up, showing that they were peaceful utopias before some lunatic implemented gun controls.
+1
Level 61
Apr 16, 2025
Exactly! In the UK they banned guns. All that has happened is the knife murders went up and the people have nothing to protect themeselves with.
+6
Level 57
Apr 16, 2025
Not really. You could still carry knives to "defend yourself", but let's be completely honest. Both the perpetrators and the victims of knife crimes in London are those are already involved with gangs/violence. Gangs stab each other. Teenage boys stab each other based off of who's involved with what dodgy situation. Ordinary citizens do not need guns to hold themselves, because too many people cannot be trusted with one
+6
Level 82
Apr 17, 2025
And yet the USA still has a staggeringly higher rate of knife crime than the UK.
+1
Level 76
Oct 7, 2025
Sure if you really want to kill someone and you can't kill them one way, you are going to do it another way, but that is sort of irrelevant. It is about the impact on total numbers.

It is not like knives were not available before.

I'm sure if you make all 'actual" weapons go away the number of people murdered with scarfs will go up too..

+1
Level 30
Apr 22, 2025
or it could be a certain group of people committing these crimes if you know what i mean wink wink
+1
Level 68
Nov 15, 2025
I wonder what those four cities have in common

(It's black people)

+1
Level 48
Oct 16, 2015
That thumbnail pic...
+2
Level 64
Apr 16, 2025
what do you mean that thumbnail pic
+4
Level 72
Oct 16, 2015
So terrorism doesn't count as intentional murder?
+4
Level 86
May 14, 2017
... or bombing
+5
Level 66
Oct 16, 2015
Hmm, the USA... it always seems to be the top in answer stats for quizzes!
+15
Level 46
Dec 9, 2017
We are good at a lot of things... :)
+4
Level 61
Oct 21, 2015
I can't be the only one who typed US first.
+9
Level 66
Oct 21, 2015
Well, 572 people typed US then gave up! You're not alone...
+3
Level 61
Apr 16, 2025
Seriously? How did they not do Venezuela or Mexico or Brazil
+2
Level 28
Feb 7, 2016
i did not know this stuff. but i dont want to but great quiz tho. look me up on search to play my quizzes and comment. if u do, ill play all of ur quizzes next weekend
+2
Level 43
Jul 25, 2016
not surprise for Burma with the persecution of Muslims
+1
Level 43
Jul 25, 2016
(in French) Et le gouvernement n'arrive pas à contrôler les tensions du peuple et il doit certainement y avoir encore plus d'assassins mais qui ont réussis à ne pas se faire prendre.
+1
Level 44
Oct 30, 2016
More time, maybe?
+1
Level 75
May 16, 2017
I think better parameters should be noted considering almost none of the terrorist states ranked. I'm thinking not everyone or everything considered intentional is being counted.
+3
Level 60
Aug 9, 2017
Per the source, the stats exclude deaths from wars/conflicts, so e.g. the wars in Somalia or Iraq and Syria are probably excluded. The data is most likely based purely on murder convictions, and terrorists often aren't convicted of anything - especially in states where there's active wars going on.
+3
Level 61
Aug 9, 2017
If you draw a circle around mexico to colombia, you'll have 8% of the world population and yet 33% of all (registered) murders.
+2
Level 74
Apr 6, 2025
What about if you just took the entire Americas?
+1
Level 89
Dec 5, 2025
That Aztec legacy is strong.
+3
Level 68
Aug 9, 2017
In these moments, and when our politicians open their mouth, and many other things, that im so proud of my Brazil...
+16
Level 77
Aug 9, 2017
People are loving to bash the United States and pretend Europe is a safe haven. But let's remember, which continent imperialized the vast majority of the world? Europe, specifically the United Kingdom, Spain,and France. Which countries abused these colonies and pushed most of them into extreme poverty? Europe again. Which continent hosts numerous, numerous genocides on a large scale, the most recent being on the Balkan Peninsula? Europe! So yes, while Europe does have their lovely gun control, are they really that much better than any other place in the world? Not really. #ProudTurkishCitizen #TurkeyIsntEurope
+5
Level 66
Aug 9, 2017
Yes these are all facts. I agree!
+8
Level 74
Aug 11, 2017
So things that occurred over 20 years ago (for the Balkans wars, other issues are much older) are relevant when comparing current murder rates - maybe European countries are doing something right?
+28
Level 79
Aug 12, 2017
Not to disagree with your point about pretentious Europeans projecting their own insecurities, but... it's pretty funny that you end your rant about European colonialism and genocide with "#ProudTurkishCitizen"... might want to look up the history of the Ottoman Empire sometime. On a website not in Turkish. Perhaps as told from the Armenian, Kurdish, Greek, English, Palestinian (Jewish), Arab, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Romanian, Russian or Byzantine perspective.
+7
Level 49
May 28, 2019
And imperialism, and war in the Balkans is relevant to gun control, because.......... By the way, not to downplay the horror of European imperialism, but you might like to look at the USA's current involvement in Puerto Rico. Or it's interference in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and others. Which, yes, admittedly, some European countries were sadly involved in as well.
+3
Level 55
Jul 25, 2020
It's relevant because hundreds of years of exploitation made European countries the richest while simultaneously making their colonies poverty stricken
+2
Level 77
Sep 21, 2022
Sorry digger, you do realise that the USA is an archetypal settler country don't you? That it was created by European colonialism? That its 'manifest destiny' relied on mass slavery and genocide of the indigenous population?
+1
Level 89
Dec 5, 2025
Have to quibble a bit with this. Manifest destiny didn't rely on slavery. In fact, slavery was illegal in the western states, and most of the "genocide"/Indian wars you're referring to happened after slavery was abolished.
+1
Level 57
Apr 16, 2025
This sort of violence is definitely cultural/more modern. It's all in Latin America for the most part. (Countries with huge populations shouldn't count). Some countries were exploited/extracted from much worse but this level of violence isn't shared there like in Asia. It's all to do with American demand for drugs. These drugs fuel violence in the source countries distributing them. Colonisation ended ages ago in Latin America. It is not Spain's/Portugal's fault anymore. It is their own
+1
Level 66
Aug 10, 2017
Is anyone else bothered by these numbers?
+6
Level ∞
Aug 24, 2017
Murder rates are much lower today than at any time in history.
+12
Level 46
Feb 3, 2019
But if I get murdered, I'm bothered by it, no matter what the rate overall is.
+1
Level 74
Apr 6, 2025
Taking the USA. 19,000 murders, 42,000 road deaths.

Over twice as likely to die on the road just quietly going about your business, than in a murder.

Does this not bother you?

+1
Level 76
Oct 7, 2025
Many of those road accidents could be intentional.. Whether the intended goal was murder or not. I have seen too many road rage videos, and people giving others a shove to "teach them a lesson" etc.
+4
Level 65
Feb 10, 2019
I don't think you CAN be bothered by being murdered, exceept for if there is an afterlife
+3
Level 59
Apr 16, 2025
I think you might be a little bothered during the process
+3
Level 74
Sep 11, 2017
All of these added up equal what, 200k a year? Add up the deaths per year of these countries and I'd imagine we're talking somewhere around 70 or 80 million/year. So 3 deaths out of every 1000 caused by murder in the countries with the most murders in the world. That sounds kinda pretty damn safe to me, it's far more uplifting than worrisome.
+1
Level 72
Aug 16, 2018
Could you specify what time period these murders occurred in?
+20
Level 79
May 28, 2019
trying to establish an alibi?
+13
Level 72
Aug 20, 2021
As long as they weren't at 6pm on 11th January 2017 I promise I'm innocent.
+4
Level 48
Dec 29, 2018
It was very surprising not to see Thailand and Indonesia there...
+4
Level 79
May 28, 2019
Indonesia's absence surprised me, as well, though if the numbers I found and my math are correct then Indonesia's population x its very low murder rate (0.5 per 100k) gives it only about 1/3 as many murders as El Salvador.
+7
Level ∞
Dec 30, 2019
Indonesia's murder rate is suspiciously low. I am very skeptical of their data.
+1
Level 79
Feb 27, 2020
Why? Thailand's a fairly safe country. So is Indonesia for the most part, but they have a massive population, so I'll give you that one.
+3
Level 67
Jan 27, 2022
Thailand also has a huge population of like 70 million
+1
Level 67
Feb 1, 2026
“Fairly safe”? They’re both extremely safe countries
+2
Level 48
Dec 10, 2023
Again taking this quiz in 2023, again wanted to make a point, how I am surprised by the absence of these two countries. It is hard to believe, they could be better off than Bangladesh for example.
+1
Level 54
Mar 15, 2020
Wouldn't it be better to have murder rate per 1,000 population? This more or less correlates with population size. Also, it's conventional to call them 'developing' rather than 'underdeveloped' countries. It just sounds, you know, nicer.
+1
Level 76
Apr 16, 2025
Doing it per capita would overinflate the small countries giving us the same problem. It might work as a "with exceptions" quiz though
+1
Level 57
Apr 16, 2025
some of them aren't developing though.
+1
Level 79
Mar 15, 2020
Got Nigeria and South Africa in like the last 3 seconds
+2
Level 33
Mar 17, 2020
People talk about Japan and gun control a lot, but they began the process of banning guns as early as the 1600s, when arquebuses were fairly common among the peasantry who as conscripted infantry and decided battles. The Tokugawa not only rounded up private weapons and disarmed all commoners, but largely demilitarized private society and engaged in no major wars for most of its existence. The samurai were disarmed in the late 1800s taking away swords and replacing them with a large standing army, but these persisted until the US occupation in 1945. Guns continue to trickle out of US bases around the country, and there was a mass shooting at a gym in Sasebo as recently as 2007, after someone had acquired a shotgun. Gun control is surely worthwhile, but it can't be done only by legislation banning guns. Disarming a population is a messy process that can take generations, and is undermined by a large military and a militarized society. Gun control legislation itself will never be enough.
+5
Level 79
Jun 11, 2020
yeah but after the government took away the guns, then everyone learned karate which was deadlier than any gun, so they kind of shot themselves in the foot.
+2
Level 70
Dec 14, 2020
How could they shoot themselves in the foot if they took away the guns?
+2
Level 79
Aug 20, 2021
In this metaphor the people doing the shooting would be the same people who took the guns, so...
+5
Level 79
Jun 11, 2020
Is that Bruno Mars in the thumbnail? Did he murder someone?
+1
Level 51
Dec 4, 2020
Nah, it's just Pappy Fats.
+1
Level 18
Jan 27, 2021
Brasil numero uno!!!
+2
Level 67
Jan 27, 2022
why is it in Spanish?
+1
Level 73
Mar 26, 2022
I beat 66.3%... but I missed the US :/
+1
Level 67
Sep 21, 2022
USA in some fine company there.
+3
Level 75
Sep 22, 2022
Considering it's about the number of people murdered and not percentage, it stands to reason that the countries that have the most people are going to be among the highest number of murders. Make it percentages and I would bet many, including the US, is removed and more European countries will be added. It doesn't help that the US is being invaded by many people that make up the rest of the list/
+3
Level 82
Dec 19, 2022
The USA's murder rate is still about five times higher than the UK's regardless of raw numbers.
+5
Level 67
Mar 23, 2025
And yet when you order the figs available by per capita the USA appears at number 65 and is the first of the "developed" western world countries to appear and way way way above most of the others who don't start to appear until number 136 (France) on the list...so your argument does not stack up ;) ...try again mate.

see for yourslef at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate#By_country,_region,_or_dependent_territory

+1
Level 83
Sep 21, 2022
Why is there a picture of Bruno Mars for this quiz? I doubt that he has killed many people. He's pretty short.
+1
Level 81
Sep 27, 2022
The countries not really taking care of their poorest and their weakest topping the list, as always.
+3
Level 55
Sep 28, 2022
Should've guessed the comments would be a flame war
+3
Level 68
Sep 28, 2022
The US should consider increasing their death penalty for violent crime. They're, at the very least, better than Mexico and South Africa.
+10
Level 79
Sep 29, 2022
How do you increase a death penalty? You think we should put violent criminals to death twice?
+3
Level 44
Aug 28, 2023
Not saying I agree with the OP, but it's pretty self explanatory. Use it more often?
+6
Level ∞
Mar 21, 2025
The U.S. barely has a death penalty. They only execute a few people every year, with appeals dragging out for decades.

The vast majority of people on "death row" will die of old age.

+1
Level 61
Mar 21, 2025
That is why West Virginia has banned the death penalty. We don't have enough money for it!
+4
Level 28
Oct 3, 2022
instead of giving them 100 years in jail, we should give them 200 years in jail!!!
+2
Level 45
Feb 2, 2024
I think PNG belongs on this list
+2
Level 87
Feb 12, 2024
Got all of them!
+1
Level 96
Mar 21, 2025
Dang 100% on the first shot after the update. I know my murderers!
+9
Level 80
Mar 21, 2025
It is incredible how much El Savador cleaned up under Bukele. Certainly at a price, but still. I wonder if in a few decades, he will be celebrated as a hero or seen as a villain just like Philippines' Duterte is now.
+1
Level 72
Mar 22, 2025
"Cleaned up"
+6
Level 61
Apr 16, 2025
Laugh all you want, but it's clearly working
+1
Level 89
Dec 5, 2025
A very small percentage of the population commits the majority of the crime. In US cities, it's common for certain people to have over fifty arrests. Judges who live out in the suburbs just keep letting these people out over and over again to terrorize the rest of us.

But regardless of whether you think Bukele is barbaric or not (I lean slightly towards the barbaric side, but I didn't have to live in El Salvador), it's not going to be sustainable for more than a decade, if that.

+9
Level 70
Mar 23, 2025
Israel should be #1
+8
Level 56
Apr 16, 2025
Do we really have to do that sh*t again?
+2
Level 15
Apr 14, 2025
Jamaica should be on here it has one of the highest rates of murder and other violent crimes in the Western hemisphere. But other than that great quiz!
+3
Level 56
Apr 16, 2025
Well the quiz is about total numbers and Jamaica doesn't have a huge population.
+1
Level 44
Apr 16, 2025
Everybody here only wrote US,but I wrote Uganda first :)
+1
Level 33
Apr 16, 2025
Not suprised to see the USA on here
+1
Level 55
Apr 16, 2025
R.I.P.
+1
Level 63
Apr 16, 2025
+1
Level 19
Jul 12, 2025
I just missed Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Uganda.
+1
Level 79
Jan 7, 2026
I thought Ecuador was pretty chill but more than twice the amount of Venezuela?