{"id":14281,"date":"2014-04-11T12:18:09","date_gmt":"2014-04-11T11:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rogerdarlington.me.uk\/nighthawk\/?p=14281"},"modified":"2014-04-11T12:18:09","modified_gmt":"2014-04-11T11:18:09","slug":"where-are-the-most-dangerous-places-on-earth-if-youre-a-man-the-americas-and-africa-if-youre-a-woman-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rogerdarlington.me.uk\/nighthawk\/?p=14281","title":{"rendered":"Where are the most dangerous places on earth? If, you’re a man: the Americas and Africa. If you’re a woman: home."},"content":{"rendered":"

Almost half a million people (437,000) across the world lost their lives in 2012 as a result of intentional homicide, according to a new study<\/a>\u00a0by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).<\/p>\n

Globally, some 80 per cent of homicide victims and 95 per cent of perpetrators are men.\u00a0 Almost 15 per cent of all homicides stem from domestic violence (63,600). However, the overwhelming majority – almost 70 per cent – of domestic violence fatalities are women (43,600). \u00a0Over half of all homicide victims are under 30 years of age, with children under the age of 15 accounting for just over 8 per cent of all homicides (36,000).<\/p>\n

Almost 750 million people live in countries with the highest homicide rates in the world –\u00a0 namely the Americas and Africa – meaning that almost half of all homicide occurs in countries that are home to just 11 per cent of the earth’s population. At the opposite end of the spectrum, 3 billion people – mainly in Europe, Asia and Oceania- live in countries where homicide rates are relatively low.<\/p>\n

The global average murder rate stands at 6.2 per 100,000 population, but Southern Africa and Central America recorded more than four times that number (30 and 26 victims per 100,000 population respectively), the highest in the world. Meanwhile, with rates some five times lower than the global average, East Asia, Southern Europe and Western Europe recorded the lowest homicide levels in 2012.<\/p>\n

Worryingly, homicide levels in North Africa, East Africa and parts of South Asia are rising amid social and political instability. In an encouraging trend, South Africa, which has consistently high rates of homicide, saw the homicide rate halve from 64.5 per 100,000 in 1995 to 31.0 per 100,000 in 2012.<\/p>\n

Homicides linked to gangs and organized criminal groups accounted for 30 per cent of all homicides in the Americas compared to below 1 per cent in Asia, Europe and Oceania. While surges in homicide are often linked to this type of violence, the Americas saw homicide levels five to eight times higher than Europe and Asia since the 1950s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"