The Most Violent Cities in the World

The Most Violent Cities in the World

Brazil has been in crisis for some time now.

The country’s economy shrunk -3.8% last year, and its President, Dilma Rousseff, is holding on for dear life. Once chairman of Petrobras, the state-run oil giant currently engulfed in a colossal political scandal, she is now being threatened with impeachment just 15 months into her second four-year yerm.

Her approval remains at an all-time low of just 11%. The currency has halved in value since 2011, and the country’s credit has been downgraded to junk status.

However, it’s not only the economic and political spheres that are troubling in Brazil. The country also has the dubious distinction of being the world center for homicides. Today’s chart, from The Economist, shows the 50 most murderous cities in the world – and Brazil is home to a mind-boggling 32 of them.

The good news is that key cities, such as Rio de Janeiro, are on the lower side of the spectrum. That said, the host of the 2016 Olympic Games is barely safer than Compton, with a murder rate of 18.6 per 100,000 people each year.

The bad news is that Brazil now has more than 10% of all the world’s murders. While the murder rate has fallen in the largest cities around the country, it has picked up in many of the smaller ones. Cities such as Fortaleza or Natal are among the most violent in the world, with rates above 60 murders per 100,000.

Other Notes on the Study

The United States made the list with two of the 50 most violent cities: Baltimore and St. Louis.

Latin America was home to 44 of 50 of the cities. The only cities not in Latin America: Baltimore, St. Louis, Kingston (Jamaica), and Cape Town (South Africa).

Venezuela was omitted from these rankings because of highly inaccurate data, but Caracas and other cities in the country are known to be some of the most dangerous cities in the world.