Homicides

The periodic reports of the United Nations sometimes hold unpleasant surprises. Peace causes more victims than war. No, this is not a printing error. In reality, at the global level, homicides cause far more victims than killings linked to conflicts and terrorist attacks combined (see the tables and data in the charts).

According to the most recent available statistics, criminal activities were responsible for at least a quarter of all homicides in 2021 and in the following years. In the period 2019–2021, an annual average of about 440,000 deaths worldwide was caused by intentional homicides, of which around 22,000 were attributable to terrorism. The average annual number of conflict-related deaths during this period was 94,000, not including the victims of the recent conflict in Ukraine. Despite an increase of over 95% in conflict-related deaths recorded between 2021 and 2022, mainly due to the escalation of wars in Ukraine and Ethiopia, the available data on homicides for the year 2022 indicate that the global weight of homicides in that year was still double that of conflict-related deaths.

The protagonists of peacetime homicides are mostly men, both as victims and perpetrators, even as femicides are increasing. But be careful not to misunderstand the statistics: countries at peace are about 15 times more numerous than those at war and have populations dozens of times larger than states at war. For this reason, a homicide mortality rate per capita much lower than that of war victims can result in a higher global total of deaths than those caused by wars. The countries with the highest homicide rates per 100,000 inhabitants are in the Americas; those with fewer homicides are in Asia, even fewer than in Europe.

Sandro Calvani
NP October 2025