| Murder Rates (per 1 million people) | | | | can often lead to disputes and therefore murder. A |
| 1st Columbia 618 | | | | large proportion of crime in these countries could be |
| 2nd South Africa 496 | | | | attributed to this. |
| 3rd Jamaica 324 | | | | Murder rates are significantly higher in Eastern Europe |
| 5th Russia 202 | | | | than Western Europe. Over the last twenty years |
| 24th United States 43 | | | | there has been much political unrest in Eastern Europe, |
| 30th Finland 28 | | | | and this is something that can cause crime. |
| 40th France 17 | | | | Some countries have high crime rates that would |
| 60th Japan 5 | | | | surprise many. Countries that traditionally have had low |
| Crime Rates (per 1 million people) | | | | crime, such as Finland, Denmark and Japan now have |
| 1st Dominica 114,000 | | | | higher crime. |
| 2nd New Zealand 106,000 | | | | Western Europe generally has a low murder rate but |
| 3rd Finland 102,000 | | | | a much higher general crime rate. One of the reasons |
| 4th Denmark 93,000 | | | | for this could be that a higher percentage of crime is |
| 5th Child 88,000 | | | | reported. There are also more laws relating to 'lesser' |
| 6th United Kingdom 86,000 | | | | offenses. Speeding and littering, for example, are not |
| 8th United States 80,000 | | | | illegal in many other areas of the world and it is |
| 10th South Africa 77,000 | | | | therefore easier to break the law. Research generally |
| 31st Russia 21,000 | | | | shows that areas of wealth have less crime, and this |
| 37th Jamaica 14,000 | | | | could be another factor. In some ways New Zealand |
| 59th India 1,000 | | | | is similar to this. They have a high crime rate, but low |
| Columbia is the world leader in murder rates, with 618 | | | | murder rate, with a large proportion of crimes being |
| murders for every million people. It is significantly high | | | | minor ones. |
| than South Africa, which is second. Jamaica and | | | | The United States murder rate has fallen significantly, |
| Venezuela are the next two with Russia the highest | | | | but overall crime remains relatively high, much like |
| European country with 202 murders for every million. | | | | Western Europe. Murder is still more common though, |
| The number of murders in the United States has fallen | | | | with the fact that guns are legal and easily obtainable |
| to 43 per million, but figures for Eastern Europe has | | | | likely to be a contributing factor. Violent crime has been |
| generally risen. | | | | reduced though, and this is partly due to greater effort |
| In many cases the trends differ for crime rates in | | | | being made by the authorities. New York is a good |
| general. Dominica has the most recorded crime | | | | example of this, with crime rates, and especially violent |
| followed by New Zealand, Finland, Denmark, Chile and | | | | crime having fallen by a large margin over the last ten |
| the United Kingdom. | | | | to fifteen years. |
| Although Columbia has the highest murder rate it is not | | | | Crime rates are extremely low in India and China. |
| in the top 60 of general crime rates. This is similar with | | | | Some would argue that these areas have high morals |
| South Africa and Jamaica. These countries have a | | | | and therefore lower crime. You could also argue |
| high amount of drug related crime (although often not | | | | though, that there are more severe punishments for |
| reported and therefore not recorded); something that | | | | crime, and therefore it is less worth the risk. |