Murder Rates Compared

This morning The Times published an article that mentioned the high murder rate in South Africa in the context of that country hosting the 2010 World Cup. The Times quoted the absolute number of homicides in South Africa last year, "18,487". Unfortunately, without context, that number is completely meaningless. I wanted to know what that number really meant for day to day life.

To help with that I found a page on Wikipedia that compiles the homicide rate for several countries per 100000 people. That changed the South African number to 38.6. Then I compared that rate to the rates in several countries I have visited in the last year.

This chart gives much greater context for understanding how incredibly high the murder rate in South Africa really is.