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GeezerVison is showing ourworldindata.org — Homicides

Homicides — when people intentionally and illegally kill others for personal reasons — are the most serious crime.

They are a common cause of death globally and a leading cause of death in some countries.

They not only rob the victims of their lives: they also hurt the victims’ friends and families, they harm the broader community, and they may burden the perpetrators themselves and lead to their imprisonment or execution.

This page provides data and research on how frequent homicides are, how this differs across countries, and whether they are becoming less common over time.

Related Topics

  • Causes of Death
  • War and Peace
  • Terrorism
  • Suicides

Research & Writing

Featured image for the article on the different homicide data sources. Stylized lines that all go down.

June 26, 2023

Homicide data: how sources differ and when to use which one

There are several ways to measure homicides. What approaches do different sources take? And when is which approach best?

Bastian Herre and Fiona Spooner

Featured image

January 19, 2026

How have crime rates in the United States changed over the last 50 years?

Both violent and property crime are far below their 1990s peak, but some crimes see periodic rises.

Hannah Ritchie and Fiona Spooner

More Articles on Homicides

October 29, 2020

Why is life expectancy in the US lower than in other rich countries?

Max Roser

August 2, 2013

Data review: ethnographic and archaeological evidence on violent deaths

Max Roser

Key Charts on Homicides

See all charts on this topic
  • A thumbnail of the "Homicide rate" chartHomicide rateUNODC
  • A thumbnail of the "Homicide rates over the long term" chartHomicide rates over the long term
  • A thumbnail of the "Causes of death" chartCauses of deathIHME
  • A thumbnail of the "Homicide rate across sources" chartHomicide rate across sources
  • A thumbnail of the "Homicides" chartHomicidesUNODC
  • A thumbnail of the "Causes of death in 15- to 49-year-olds" chartCauses of death in 15- to 49-year-olds
  • A thumbnail of the "Child homicide rate" chartChild homicide rateUNICEF
  • A thumbnail of the "Child homicide rate" chartChild homicide rateWHO Mortality Database
  • A thumbnail of the "Female homicide rate" chartFemale homicide rateUNODC
  • A thumbnail of the "Female homicide victims" chartFemale homicide victimsUNODC
  • A thumbnail of the "Homicide rate" chartHomicide rateWHO Mortality Database, Age-standardized
  • A thumbnail of the "Homicide rate" chartHomicide rateIHME
  • A thumbnail of the "Homicide rate" chartHomicide rateWHO Mortality Database
  • A thumbnail of the "Homicide rate" chartHomicide rateWHO-GHE
  • A thumbnail of the "Homicide rate" chartHomicide rateIHME, age-standardized
  • A thumbnail of the "Homicide rate by age of the victim" chartHomicide rate by age of the victimIHME
  • A thumbnail of the "Homicide rate by age of the victim" chartHomicide rate by age of the victimWHO Mortality Database
  • A thumbnail of the "Homicide rate by sex of the victim" chartHomicide rate by sex of the victimUNODC
  • A thumbnail of the "Homicide rate from firearms" chartHomicide rate from firearmsUNODC
  • A thumbnail of the "Homicide rate in 1990 vs. 2020" chartHomicide rate in 1990 vs. 2020UNODC
  • A thumbnail of the "Homicide rate vs. GDP per capita" chartHomicide rate vs. GDP per capitaUNODC
  • A thumbnail of the "Homicide rate where the perpetrator is an intimate partner" chartHomicide rate where the perpetrator is an intimate partnerUNODC
  • A thumbnail of the "Homicide rate, IHME vs. WHO Mortality Database" chartHomicide rate, IHME vs. WHO Mortality Database
  • A thumbnail of the "Homicide rate, UNODC vs. IHME" chartHomicide rate, UNODC vs. IHME
  • A thumbnail of the "Homicide rate, WHO vs. UNODC" chartHomicide rate, WHO vs. UNODC
  • A thumbnail of the "Homicides" chartHomicidesWHO-GHE
  • A thumbnail of the "Homicides" chartHomicidesWHO Mortality Database
  • A thumbnail of the "Homicides" chartHomicidesIHME
  • A thumbnail of the "Homicides by age of the victim" chartHomicides by age of the victimIHME
  • A thumbnail of the "Homicides by firearm" chartHomicides by firearmUNODC
  • A thumbnail of the "Homicides, by sex of the victim" chartHomicides, by sex of the victimUNODC
  • A thumbnail of the "Male homicide rate" chartMale homicide rateUNODC
  • A thumbnail of the "Male homicide victims" chartMale homicide victimsUNODC
  • A thumbnail of the "Share of deaths from homicide" chartShare of deaths from homicideWHO Mortality Database
Chart 1 of 34

Cite this work

Our articles and data visualizations rely on work from many different people and organizations. When citing this topic page, please also cite the underlying data sources. This topic page can be cited as:

Bastian Herre, Fiona Spooner, Hannah Ritchie, and Max Roser (2013) - “Homicides” Published online at OurWorldinData.org. Retrieved from: 'https://ourworldindata.org/homicides' [Online Resource]

BibTeX citation

@article{owid-homicides,
    author = {Bastian Herre and Fiona Spooner and Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser},
    title = {Homicides},
    journal = {Our World in Data},
    year = {2013},
    note = {https://ourworldindata.org/homicides}
}
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