crime

Honduras has a murder rate of 35 per 100,000 — among the world's highest. But Jamaica, South Africa, and Venezuela top many lists. El Salvador's dramatic drop shows murder rates can change fast with policy. Here's the complete global homicide ranking and what actually drives lethal violence.

El Salvador incarcerates more than 1,600 people per 100,000 — the highest rate in recorded history — after President Bukele's mass gang crackdown from 2022. The United States imprisons 531 per 100,000, roughly five times the Western European average. Here's who imprisons the most, why, and what the data reveals about criminal justice as a policy choice.