This article was first published in the July 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online
This is a snapshot of the world's murders. "The data set is the most thorough and comprehensive on homicide in the world -- certainly on Latin America and the Caribbean," says Robert Muggah, research director of the Igarapé Institute, a Rio de Janeiro-based think tank that specialises in security and crime issues. The set includes 1,641 data points, including number and rate of homicides by country, victim age and gender, and the weapon used. "The primary source was the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime's annual report, but we also collected data directly from national departments of statistics, police departments and other government entities," says Muggah. The data is being built into an interactive graphic that will allow people to estimate their own relative risk of being killed. "If you're a 23-year-old Colombian woman, living in Bogota, the visualisation can tell you your risk of being murdered," Muggah says.
Homicide rates are trending downwards in regions such as western Europe -- dropping 40 per cent over the last 20 years -- but it's the opposite in the global south. "Latin America, the Caribbean and central and South Africa show an uptick," says Muggah. "Latin America has nine per cent of the world's population -- and 31 per cent of its homicides." Data shows a fifth of all murders occur in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and South Africa; in Brazil, more than 56,000 people were murdered in 2012 alone. Honduras has the most violent city in the world -- San Pedro Sula had a murder rate of 187 per 100,000 in 2013 (London's was 1.6). Still, there are positive exemplars in the region. "Medellin, considered one of the most dangerous cities in the world because of the Colombian cocaine trade, has dropped its homicide rate by almost 80 per cent since the 90s, thanks to data-driven policing," says Muggah. "This shows that although we have a challenging situation, there are innovative ways to bring it down. We just need to use compelling tools."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
