While the world feels increasingly safe in many ways, a stark reality hides in plain sight: in 2021 alone, over 450,000 lives were lost to intentional homicide, with nearly half of these murders occurring in a region home to just 8% of the global population.
Key Takeaways
- In 2021, the global intentional homicide rate stood at 5.8 victims per 100,000 population, with approximately 458,000 homicide victims worldwide
- Latin America and the Caribbean had the highest regional homicide rate in 2021 at 20.6 per 100,000, accounting for 47% of global homicides despite only 8% of world population
- In 2022, Venezuela recorded a homicide rate of 40.4 per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the highest globally
- Globally, burglary rates vary, with New Zealand reporting 791 burglaries per 100,000 in 2022
- In the US, there were 880,188 burglaries reported in 2022, rate of 264.1 per 100,000
- United Kingdom burglary rate fell to 435 per 100,000 in England/Wales 2022/23
- Global Corruption Perceptions Index 2023 average score 43/100, with 147/180 countries scoring below 50
- Denmark ranked least corrupt at 90/100 CPI 2023
- Somalia most corrupt at 11/100 CPI 2023
- World opioid market valued at $68 billion in 2021
- Cocaine production reached 2,757 tons in 2022, up 52% from 2018
- Global cannabis users 219 million in 2022
- Global cybercrime costs projected $10.5 trillion annually by 2025
- 3,400 cyber attacks per week on average globally in 2023
- Ransomware attacks 493 million globally in 2023
World crime statistics reveal stark regional divides in homicide and other criminal activities.
Corruption and White-Collar
- Global Corruption Perceptions Index 2023 average score 43/100, with 147/180 countries scoring below 50
- Denmark ranked least corrupt at 90/100 CPI 2023
- Somalia most corrupt at 11/100 CPI 2023
- Venezuela scored 13/100 on CPI 2023
- Global bribery incidence 25% of public services users paid bribe in past year
- US corporate fines for corruption exceeded $2.8 billion in 2022
- Brazil Lava Jato operation recovered $700 million by 2023
- China anti-corruption campaign prosecuted 4.7 million cases since 2012
- Nigeria lost $400 billion to corruption since independence, estimate
- Russia CPI score 28/100 in 2023
- India CPI 39/100 in 2023
- South Africa dropped to 41/100 CPI 2023 due to state capture
- Global illicit financial flows from corruption $1 trillion annually
- 70% of OECD countries convicted at least one foreign bribery case 2018-2022
- Embezzlement cases in EU cost €50 billion yearly
- Malaysia 1MDB scandal involved $4.5 billion misappropriated
- Ukraine CPI 36/100 in 2023 amid war
- Argentina 37/100 CPI 2023
- Global money laundering $800 billion to $2 trillion yearly, 2-5% GDP
- UNODC estimates $1.6 trillion in proceeds of crime laundered globally
Corruption and White-Collar Interpretation
The world's moral report card is a staggering fail, where the valedictorian of virtue is Denmark with a modest 90% while the vast, corrupt majority of the class averages a pathetic 43%, proving that integrity is the ultimate global luxury item most nations simply cannot afford.
Cybercrimes
- Global cybercrime costs projected $10.5 trillion annually by 2025
- 3,400 cyber attacks per week on average globally in 2023
- Ransomware attacks 493 million globally in 2023
- Phishing responsible for 36% of data breaches in 2023
- US cybercrime losses $12.5 billion in 2023
- Global data breaches exposed 8 billion records in 2023
- DDoS attacks up 200% in 2023, 10.5 million incidents
- Cryptojacking incidents 80 million in 2023
- Business email compromise losses $2.9 billion US 2023
- Mobile malware samples 12.7 million in 2023
- Global cybercrime victims 800 million people annually
- Investment fraud $4.5 billion losses US 2023
- Dark web listings for stolen data 15 million in 2023
- Ransomware payments $1.1 billion crypto 2023
- State-sponsored cyber attacks 30% of incidents 2023
- Healthcare breaches 540 in US 2023
- Personal data breaches EU 1,800+ notifications 2023
- Confidence fraud up 22% globally 2023
Cybercrimes Interpretation
The global economy is now running a mandatory, multi-trillion-dollar subscription to a protection racket operated by faceless criminals and hostile states, with your personal data as the recurring fee.
Drug Crimes
- World opioid market valued at $68 billion in 2021
- Cocaine production reached 2,757 tons in 2022, up 52% from 2018
- Global cannabis users 219 million in 2022
- Opioid use disorder affects 60 million people worldwide
- Afghanistan produced 6,200 tons of opium in 2022, 80% global supply
- Colombia seized 671 tons cocaine in 2022
- Mexico synthetic drug labs dismantled 900+ in 2022
- US overdose deaths 107,941 in 2022, mostly fentanyl
- Europe cocaine seizures 303 tons in 2022, record high
- Global amphetamine-type stimulants users 37 million in 2022
- Brazil cannabis seizures 566 tons in 2022
- Australia methamphetamine use 1% population
- Nigeria cannabis prevalence 10.8% adults
- Iran opioid use disorder 2.8% population, highest globally
- Global darknet drug markets revenue $1.7 billion in 2021
- Peru coca cultivation 95,000 ha in 2022
- Ecuador cocaine transit seizures doubled to 210 tons 2022
- US fentanyl seizures 27,000 lbs in 2023
- Canada diverted pharma opioids caused 80% overdoses pre-fentanyl
- Global new psychoactive substances 1,100 identified by 2023
- Synthetic cathinones use rising, 23 million past year users
Drug Crimes Interpretation
Despite the occasional headline-grabbing bust, the global drug trade is thriving like a malignant start-up, boasting record production, seamless distribution, and a devastatingly loyal customer base of hundreds of millions.
Organized and Transnational
- Global terrorism deaths 6,701 in 2022, down 9% from prior year
- Sahel region 51% of global terrorism deaths 2023
- ISIS claimed 1,805 attacks in 2022
- Human trafficking victims 50 million globally 2021 estimate
- Organized crime groups 250,000 members in Italy alone
- Global arms trafficking $1-3 billion black market yearly
- Transnational organized crime markets $870 billion in 2023
- Human smuggling fees average $5,000-$10,000 per migrant
- Wildlife trafficking $20 billion illegal trade annually
- Counterfeit goods $500 billion global trade 2022
- Maritime piracy 132 incidents in 2022, mostly Gulf of Guinea
- Environmental crime $110-281 billion yearly
- Sex trafficking 25 million victims, generating $150 billion revenue
- Child soldiers recruited by organized groups 100,000+ globally
- Money mule accounts detected 1 million+ in EU 2022
- Synthetic drug trafficking by cartels shifted to Asia-Pacific
- Italian mafia revenues €30 billion annually
- MS-13 gang transnational operations in 10 countries
- Yakuza membership 22,000 in Japan 2023
Organized and Transnational Interpretation
The comforting lie is that global terrorism deaths are down, but the terrifying truth is we've merely diversified our horrors into an industrial-scale menu of human trafficking, arms dealing, and mafia revenue streams that would make any legit economy blush.
Property Crimes
- Globally, burglary rates vary, with New Zealand reporting 791 burglaries per 100,000 in 2022
- In the US, there were 880,188 burglaries reported in 2022, rate of 264.1 per 100,000
- United Kingdom burglary rate fell to 435 per 100,000 in England/Wales 2022/23
- Australia recorded 207,865 burglary offences in 2022
- Canada had 153,996 break and enters in 2022, rate of 382 per 100,000
- Germany burglary rate 151 per 100,000 in 2022
- France reported 374,000 residential burglaries in 2022
- Japan has one of lowest burglary rates at 21 per 100,000 in 2022
- South Africa burglary rate extremely high at 486 per 100,000 households in 2022/23
- Brazil theft rate includes 700,000 burglaries annually estimated
- Mexico City burglary victimization rate 2.5% in 2022 surveys
- In Sweden, 25,000 burglaries reported in 2022, rate 240 per 100,000
- Netherlands burglary down 20% to 60,000 incidents in 2022
- Italy residential burglaries 215,000 in 2022
- Spain 125,000 burglaries in 2022, rate 260 per 100,000
- India urban burglary rate around 50 per 100,000
- China reported low burglary rates, under 100 per 100,000
- Russia burglary cases 120,000 in 2022
- Global motor vehicle thefts estimated at 1.5 million annually
- US car thefts up 10% to 1,007,000 in 2023
- UK vehicle theft 130,000 in 2022/23
- Australia 47,000 stolen vehicles recovered rate 90%
- Canada 90,000 auto thefts in 2022, up 24%
- South Africa 55,000 car hijackings in 2022/23
- Brazil high vehicle theft rate 300 per 100,000 vehicles
Property Crimes Interpretation
While data paints a vivid map of global insecurity—from South Africa's alarming burglary rates to America's troubling surge in car thefts—it ultimately underscores a universal human truth: we are all, to varying degrees, haunted by the nagging question of whether we remembered to lock the door.
Violent Crimes
- In 2021, the global intentional homicide rate stood at 5.8 victims per 100,000 population, with approximately 458,000 homicide victims worldwide
- Latin America and the Caribbean had the highest regional homicide rate in 2021 at 20.6 per 100,000, accounting for 47% of global homicides despite only 8% of world population
- In 2022, Venezuela recorded a homicide rate of 40.4 per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the highest globally
- Jamaica's homicide rate reached 52.9 per 100,000 in 2022, driven largely by gang violence
- South Africa reported 45.53 homicides per 100,000 in 2022/23, with over 27,000 murders
- The United States had 6.8 homicides per 100,000 in 2022, totaling about 21,156 murders
- Globally, 81% of homicide victims are male, and firearms were used in 52% of cases in 2021
- In Europe, the homicide rate was lowest at 2.2 per 100,000 in 2021
- Brazil recorded 47,508 homicides in 2021, rate of 22.4 per 100,000
- Mexico's homicide rate was 28.2 per 100,000 in 2022, with over 33,000 murders
- In 2021, intimate partner/family-related homicides accounted for 45% of female victims globally
- El Salvador's homicide rate dropped to 7.8 per 100,000 in 2022 from higher peaks
- Colombia had 25.5 homicides per 100,000 in 2022
- Honduras rate at 35.1 per 100,000 in 2022
- Guatemala 22.9 per 100,000 homicides in 2022
- Philippines homicide rate of 5.4 per 100,000 in 2022
- Russia reported 5.4 homicides per 100,000 in 2021
- India had an estimated 2.1 homicide rate per 100,000 in 2021
- Nigeria's rate around 9.8 per 100,000 based on estimates
- In Africa, homicide rate averaged 13 per 100,000 in 2021
- Asia's regional homicide rate was 2.3 per 100,000 in 2021
- Oceania rate at 2.8 per 100,000
- Northern Africa lowest homicide subregion at 2.1 per 100,000
- In 2020, 82% of homicides solved in Western Europe vs under 10% in some Latin American countries
- Global homicide victims aged 15-29 represent 37% of total in 2021
- Firearm homicides highest in Americas at 72% of cases
- South Africa saw 75 murders per day on average in 2023
- In 2022, Lesotho had 43.6 homicides per 100,000
- Trinidad and Tobago rate of 39.5 per 100,000 in 2022
- Bahamas 29.5 homicides per 100,000 in 2022
Violent Crimes Interpretation
While the global murder map is far from uniform, it paints a grimly clear picture: certain Latin American and Caribbean nations shoulder a wildly disproportionate burden of lethal violence, turning regional statistics into national tragedies.
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