The United Nations just put together their Global Study on Homicide 2011, an extensive report detailing each country's homicide rate and the factors that brought them there.

Globally, there were 468,000 murders in 2010, giving the world an average of 6.9 murders per 100,000 people. But more than a third of these homicides took place in Africa, and slightly lower percentages took place in the Americas and Asia.

Not surprisingly, many of the countries with the highest homicide rates are low on human development, high on income inequality and corruption, and fairly unstable.

Because homicide rate is per capita, some fairly surprising nations are found in the top 20. For example, Ethiopia had the highest hard count of murders, but placed 20th on the list. You'll find the U.S. Virgin Islands higher up than that.