Honduras Has the World’s Highest Murder Rate, Says UN Report

Honduras tops the list of world nations with the highest murder rate, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s report released on Thursday. The report analyzes the intentional homicides of about 437,000 people around the world in that year.

The Central American nation had a murder rate of 90.4 homicides per 100,000 people in 2012, according to this year’s report from the U.N Office of Drugs and Crime. Honduras also topped the list in the last report, released in 2011. The study says that the homicide rates were five to eight times higher than those of Europe and Asia since the mid-1950s describing the phenomenon as “the legacy of decades of political and crime-related violence.” “Overall, organized crime or gang-related homicide accounts for 30 per cent of homicides in the Americas,” the report said. Venezuela and Belize followed with Colombia occupying the last position. The report also analyzed the kinds of weapons used in homicides around the world and found firearms being used widely (41%) followed by sharp objects and other weapons.

Central American countries like Honduras have a long history of gang violence which surged up after the Mexican drug cartels moved in and carried out the illegal drug trafficking from South America to the United States.

Infoeditor