52 people lost their lives to homicide globally every hour in 2021: UN

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - Killings globally hit a new record in 2021 with 52 people losing their lives to homicide every hour, said a report released Friday by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

In the study, titled Global Study on Homicide, UNODC data revealed that more people were killed due to homicide than armed conflict and terrorism combined in 2021.

"Homicide accounted for an annual average of around 440,000 deaths worldwide over 2019-2021, a higher number than conflict-related or terrorist killings combined," said the study, adding 2021 was an exceptionally lethal year with 458,000 deaths.

The report said that this increase was partly linked to the economic consequences of COVID-19 and a rise in organized crime and gang-related and sociopolitical violence.

"Available data for 2022 shows that – despite a surge of more than 95 percent in conflict deaths between 2021 and 2022 – the global burden of homicide was nonetheless twice as large as the burden of conflict deaths," it noted.

The figures showed that men account for 81% of homicide victims, while women are more likely to be killed by family members or intimate partners.

Organized crime or gang group-related homicides constitute around 22% of intentional homicides globally and 50% in the Americas, the study showed.

According to the report, the Americas had the highest regional homicide rate per capita in the world with 15 per 100,000 population, or 154,000 people in 2021, while Africa had the highest absolute number of homicides with 176,000, or 12.7 per 100,000 population.

"Every year, we witness the loss of thousands of lives to homicide – a somber reminder of our collective failure to fulfil the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals to significantly reduce all forms of violence by 2030," said Ghada Waly, executive director of UNODC.