This Is the Country Where the Most People Die Violent Deaths

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Prompted by the dramatic increase in injuries and deaths related to firearms, the U.S. surgeon general issued on Tuesday an advisory , declaring firearm violence in America a public health crisis. In 2022, the advisory explains, 48,204 people died from firearm‑related injuries, including suicides, homicides, and unintentional deaths. This is about 20% more than in 2019 and a whopping 50% increase from 2010.

Perhaps most alarming, according to the advisory, issued by the nation's top doctor Dr. Vivek Murthy, firearm‑related injury has been the leading cause of death for U.S. children and adolescents (ages 1–19).

Though clearly this needs to be addressed, it is interesting to see how the U.S. compares to other nations.

To find out -- and to find the country where the most people die violent deaths (by firearm or other means) -- 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 2023 Small Arms Survey’s Global Violent Deaths Database, which has data from  2004–2021. We ranked countries based on all violent deaths per capita and added civilian firearm holdings from the same source as well as recent gross domestic product per capita in current U.S. dollars for the most recent year available from the World Bank . Civilian firearm holdings data is only as of 2017. Also, while the violent deaths survey includes 230 countries, we only considered the 214 countries with over 30,000 populations.

Well, the U.S. ranks 67th in overall violent deaths per capita, with 27,445 deaths, or 8.14 per 100,000 people, in 2021. When considering firearm-related deaths, there were 22,702 such deaths, or 6.74 per 100,000 -- the 40th highest rate among the countries reviewed. If we ranked the list by the firearm death rate, the U.S., sadly, would have made the list.

The 41 countries on the list have nearly double the U.S. violent death rate, ranging from 15.3 violent deaths per 100,000 people in the Dominican Republic to as much as 112.3 per 100,000 in Afghanistan. For seven countries on the list -- Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, South Sudan, Myanmar, Somalia, and Ethiopia -- conflict deaths comprise most of the violent deaths. For the 34 other countries, intentional homicide comprises the most violent deaths. Though in some countries, such as Central African Republic, there are nearly as many deaths from homicide (2,200) and conflict (1,708). (Also see: These Are the Poorest Countries In the World .)

There are 14 Caribbean countries on the list, the most of any region, likely partly because of their smaller populations. Still, there were over 1,800 violent deaths in Jamaica, a country of 2.8 million, and nearly 570 deaths in Trinidad and Tobago, a country of just 1.5 million. There are also 11 countries on the list from Central (5) and South (6) America. Eleven African countries are also on the list, as well as five Asian countries.

Why are we covering this

Violence often hinders economic and social development. While not all the countries on the list rank among the poorest half, a large majority -- 28 -- do, with GDPs per capita lower than the $12,687 world average in 2022. For this reason, it is important to keep track of how countries deal with violence within their border.

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