UN report finds nearly 40% of world's murders were committed in Americas in 2012

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

The Americas have overtaken Africa as the region with the most murders, thanks to a surge in organised crime, according to a UN report (pdf).

Honduras retains the world's highest murder rate, with 90.4 homicides per 100,000 people in 2012, almost double that of Venezuela, whose rate was 53.7.

According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime's report, Central America fared particularly badly. Belize had a murder rate of 44.7, while El Salvador's was 41.2 per 100,000.

In a previous report in 2011, Honduras topped the list, with El Salvador in second place and Venezuela in third.

Nearly 40% of the 437,000 murders committed globally in 2012 took place in the Americas, with the majority in Central and South America, the report found.

"Overall, organised crime [or] gang-related homicide accounts for 30% of homicides in the Americas," the report said.

Central American countries that have a long history of gang violence, such as Honduras, have seen the problem worsen in recent years after Mexican drug cartels moved in, taking advantage of shaky public institutions to set up key logistical operations for moving drugs from South America to the United States.

Other countries with high murder rates include Guatemala, with 39.9 murders per 100,000; South Africa with 31; Colombia with 30.8; and Brazil with 25.2.

In Mexico, where about 85,000 people have died in drug-related killings since a 2007 military-led assault against the warring cartels, the murder rate was 21.5 per 100,000.