Hey, Y’all,

So, a lot of people have been talking about how much safer the UK is than the US, especially in the wake of the Las Vegas shooting. So, I decided to hit up google and get some numbers.

Let’s get two numbers out there first:

US Population – 323.1 Million

England and Wales Population – 56.08 million

So, roughly, there are 5.77 times more people in the US than in England and Wales. So, those two countries have fewer citizens than the states of California and New York combined by almost 2 million. So, now that that’s out of the way, let’s jump to our first stat…

Homicides

From March 2015 to March 2016, there were 723 homicides in England and Wales. In 2015, there were 15,696 homicides in the US. That is a drastically larger number. In England and Wales, you have a 1 in 77,560 chance of being murdered. In the US, you have a 1 in 20,584 chance of being murdered. Clearly, yes, living in England or Wales makes it a lot less likely that you’ll be the victim of a homicide. Let’s look at a few other numbers.

Assaults

There were 402,316 assaults with injury in England and Wales from 3/15 to 3/16 and 764,135 aggravated assaults in the US in 2015. So, that means you have a 1 in 139.38 chance of being the victim in an assault in England and Wales. In the US, you have a 1 in 422.83 chance of being assaulted in the US. That means you are, roughly, three times more likely to be assaulted in England and Wales than the US.

Rape

According to the Office of National Statistics, there were 35,699 rapes in England and Wales from 3/15 to 3/16. And according to the FBI, there were 90,185 rapes in the US during 2015. So that means you have a 1 in 1,572.12 chance of being raped in England or Wales. In the US, you have a 1 in 3,582.64 chance of being raped. So, roughly, you are 2.28 times more likely to be raped in either England or Wales.

Robberies

When looking at robberies, there were 55,824 robberies in England and Wales in 2016. In the US, there were 327,324 robberies in 2015. So, you have a 1 in 1004.51 chance of being robbed in England and Wales. With the US, you have a 1 in 987.1 chance of being the victim of robbery. So, roughly, you have are 1.02 times more likely to be robbed in the US than England and Wales. So, really, it’s nearly equal rates.

Conclusion

So, looking at four major areas of crimes, it breaks down as follows: you are more likely to be murdered in the US, more likely to be assaulted with injury or raped in England or Wales, and it’s essentially a 50/50 split for more likely to be robbed. When looking at statistics on crime, we should not be looking at overall numbers, but instead at the ratio of the crime to the overall population of the country. Since the US has nearly six times more citizens than England and Wales, it will obviously have more crime overall. Throwing general numbers around without looking at statistics is purposefully misleading.

That’s all I got for now. Thoughts?

Sources:

https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/latest-crime-statistics-released

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-39729601

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/compendium/focusonviolentcrimeandsexualoffences/yearendingmarch2016/overviewofviolentcrimeandsexualoffences

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/20/official-figures-show-biggest-rise-crime-in-a-decade