New York City's violent crime rate has not been particularly high in recent years, but few expected the news that not a single incident was reported for the entirety of Monday.

Though theft continues to rise in the city, the number of recorded murders has dropped by 23% in just a year, and stands at 5.6 per 100,000 people according to figures compiled by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

New York's homicide rate pales in comparison, however, to those found in Central America. For every 100,000 people, there are 8.4 murders per year in Mexico City in a country notorious for its drug violence. But even Mexico City appears a safe haven compared to Venezuela's capital Caracas where the homicide rate is 122 per 100,000.

The UNODC data show murder rates from 2009 in the most populous cities of 65 countries, and you can explore our interactive visualisation of the data here. As well as high murder rates in Central American cities of Caracas, Guatemala City and Basseterre (West Indies), the figures also show that those born in Lesotho's capital of Maseru in southern Africa have a 1 in 1,615 chance of being murdered.

The numbers capture intentional homicide, defined as "unlawful death purposefully inflicted on a person by another person" and are compiled from criminal justice or public health systems.

Men are far more likely to be homicide victims in almost every country recorded. In Venezuela, Mali and Libya for example, over 90% of victims are men. Women face a significantly higher risk of murder in just two of the world's countries: Nauru (where 80% of all victims are female) and Malta (75%).

Europe's most murderous cities are to be found in the East, with Tallinn (in Estonia), Minsk (Belarus) and Chishinau (Moldova) topping the list. Estonia also witnessed a 15% drop in GDP and a 14% rise in unemployment rate in the same year, one of the most brutal downturns of the OECD countries.

Amsterdam tops the list of homicide rates in Western Europe with 4.4 murders per 100,000 people, followed by Glasgow (3.3 per 100,000), Brussels (3 per 100,000) and Prague (2.7 per 100,000). With 0.0016% of people in London being murdered, the city ranks just ahead of Canada and Serbia's largest cities.

The world's safest major cities? Those living in Japan and Portugal face the lowest risk of homicide with less than 0.5 per 100,000 of the population being murdered.

• This article was amended on 3 December 2012. The original referred to Glasgow as having the highest homicide rate of Western European cities, when Amsterdam's rate was in fact higher.

Data summary

Homicide rates for selected countries' most populous cities (2009 data) Click headings to sort table. Download the data Region Country City Rate per 100,000 people Americas Venezuela Caracas 122 Americas Guatemala Guatemala City 118.3 Americas Saint Kitts and Nevis Basseterre 97.6 Americas El Salvador San Salvador 94.6 Americas Belize Belize City 81 Americas Honduras Tegucigalpa 72.7 Africa Lesotho Maseru 61.9 Americas Trinidad and Tobago Port of Spain 47 Americas Panama Panama City 34.6 Americas Bahamas Nassau 28.5 Americas Jamaica Kingston 26.8 Americas Haiti Port au Prince 24.1 Americas Colombia Bogota 17.4 Africa Botswana Gaborone 16.1 Africa Uganda Kampala 15.3 Americas Brazil Sao Paolo 10.8 Asia Mongolia Ulan Bator 10.2 Africa Zambia Lusaka 9.5 Americas Mexico Mexico City 8.4 Africa Mauritius Port Louis 7.4 Europe Estonia Tallinn 7.3 Africa Liberia Monrovia 5.7 Europe Belarus Minsk 5.7 Americas United States of America New York 5.6 Europe Republic of Moldova Chishinau 5.5 Europe Latvia Riga 5.4 Europe Lithuania Vilnius 5.4 Asia Philippines Quezon City 5.3 Asia Georgia Tbilisi 5 Europe Russian Federation Moscow 4.6 Europe Netherlands Amsterdam 4.4 Europe Ukraine Kiev 4.2 Asia Thailand Bangkok 4 Asia Tajikistan Dushanbe 3.7 Europe UK (Scotland) Glasgow 3.3 Europe Belgium Brussels 3 Europe Czech Republic Prague 2.7 Europe UK (Northern Ireland) Belfast 2.6 Asia Republic of Korea Seoul 2.4 Europe FYR Macedonia Skopje 2.3 Europe Hungary Budapest 2.1 Europe Slovakia Bratislava 2.1 Europe Poland Warsaw 1.9 Europe Bulgaria Sofia 1.8 Europe Germany Berlin 1.8 Europe UK (England and Wales) London 1.6 Americas Canada Toronto 1.5 Africa Morocco Casablanca 1.4 Europe Serbia Belgrade 1.4 Africa Ghana Accra 1.3 Asia India Mumbai 1.3 Asia Cyprus Nicosia 1.3 Asia Sri Lanka Colombo 1.2 Asia Kuwait Kuwait City 1.2 Europe Finland Helsinki 1.2 Europe Norway Oslo 1.2 Europe Austria Vienna 1.1 Europe Spain Madrid 1 Asia Armenia Yerevan 0.9 Europe Romania Bucharest 0.9 Africa Egypt Cairo 0.6 Europe Croatia Zagreb 0.6 Europe Iceland Reykjavik 0.5 Asia Japan Tokyo 0.4 Europe Slovenia Ljubljana 0.4 Europe Portugal Lisbon 0.2

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