It is rather important when traveling that you’re aware if your target destination is among the 11 countries with the highest crime rate per capita in the world. Some places are safer than others and the crime rates we’re going to discuss certainly don’t apply in all areas of these countries, but it’s still something you should be aware of.
The countries that are currently involved in some war or another are pretty easy to research and they aren’t all that many nowadays, thankfully, although conflicts still fester in a lot more areas. Still, crime rates are important to know about so you know what you’re dealing with.
LukaTDB/Shutterstock.com
For our list, we checked out data from the United Nations, although you should know that we only took into consideration data ranging between 2010 through 2014. Some countries have not reported their numbers in a long time and the rates may have changed in the meantime.
It should also be pointed out that there are legislative differences between these countries, meaning that what is considered, for instance, sexual offense in some nations isn’t considered so in others. Since the data has police reports at its roots, it is logical that our ranking, as thorough as it is, may not be completely accurate due to several reasons. For instance, there are many nations where reporting crimes isn’t exactly something done on a regular basis, so numbers aren’t as accurate.
You can also read up on the 11 countries with the highest rape crime rates in the world, which we published earlier.
For our ranking today we checked out UN reports regarding the following crimes: homicide, rape, total sexual violence, motor vehicle theft, theft of private cars, domestic burglary, burglary, robbery, theft, assault, and kidnapping. The countries with the highest rates per 100,000 people got the highest points. In the end, we came up with a list that has a surprising leader.
Without further ado, here are the 11 countries with the highest crime rate per capita in the world.
11. Israel
Score – 19
With some 8 million citizens, Israel is 11th on our list after it has managed to rank high on several of the lists published by the United Nations. More specifically, Israel ranks high for domestic burglaries, motor vehicle theft, and theft of private vehicles.
Aside from this, the Israel – Palestine conflict should also be taken into consideration when traveling to this country. The US Bureau of Diplomatic Security considers Israel’s crime rating to be “medium” enlarging the list with warnings against financial crimes, sexual assaults, drunk driving, and more. Vehicle theft is also mentioned as a common occurrence, with the cars never getting recovered.
10. Russia
Score – 21
We are continuing our list of countries with the highest crime rate per capita in the world with Russia that is a rather large country and one that has been known for its violent nature from time to time. Across its territories, there are plenty of criminal activities taking place. The UN notes that the country has it worst when it comes to burglary, homicide, robbery, theft, theft of private cars and sexual offenses against children. Even if the country does rank on all these lists, they’re among the last ones on the chart.
The US Bureau of Diplomatic Security has marked Russia with a “high” crime rating level, although the assessment is mostly focused on St. Petersburg. They advise visitors to be careful when out and about since violence against foreigners does happen.
ChameleonsEye/Shutterstock.com
9. The Netherlands
Score – 24
When you think about the Netherlands the first thing that comes to mind isn’t necessarily “violence” or “crime,” and yet, here we are. According to data, the Netherlands ranks among the worst countries to be in if you want to avoid burglaries, theft of private cars, kidnappings, theft and total sexual violence.
US officials rank the country’s crime risk as “medium,” their report mentioning a high number of reports regarding crimes. Although tourists and visitors aren’t necessarily targeted by criminals, there is a risk of falling victim to pickpocketing and theft.
In recent years, the country has taken extensive measures to fight against all types of crimes, including violence against women and domestic violence.
Photographee.eu/Shutterstock.com
8. Turkey
Score – 36
In light of recent events, traveling to Turkey already comes with a certain risk, both due to the political unrest in the area, as well as due to the high terrorist threat which led to several attacks in the past few months. The US Department of State has issued a warning for travelers, advising them to avoid travel to southeastern Turkey in particular and to be vigilant across the rest of the territory.
Thanks to data coming from the United Nations, Turkey ranked high on several lists – assault, domestic burglary, kidnapping, car theft, and sexual offenses against children. Of course, it should be kept in mind that data refers to reported issues only, as goes with all countries.
Marijus Auruskevicius/Shutterstock.com
7. Germany
Score – 41
Marked by the US Bureau of Diplomatic Security as a “medium” crime risk country, Germany, the next one on our list of countries with the highest crime rate per capita in the world, has a rather high crime rate compared to many other first-world countries. UN data indicates that the biggest issues in Germany are related to burglary, assault, theft, rape and other sexual offenses, including against children.
US officials don’t advise against visiting Germany, however, indicating that visitors are infrequent victims of crime, although they’ll occasionally be left without their valuables while out and about.
ChameleonsEye/Shutterstock.com
6. France
Score – 45
Aside from the violent incidents that recently took place in France, the country is also ranking high up on the bad lists, according to UN data. In fact, it is among the countries with the most incidents when it comes to assault, burglary, rape, robbery, theft, sexual offenses against children and total sexual violence.
This is, of course, quite disappointing given how often France, which ranks 6th on our list of countries with the highest crime rate per capita in the world is visited by tourists from all over the world. The US Bureau of Diplomatic Security marks France as a “medium” crime risk country.
Pikul Noorod/Shutterstock.com
5. The UK – England and Wales
Score – 53
The United Kingdom ranks 5th on our list of countries with the highest crime rate per capita in the world. It isn’t exactly a place that you’d consider violent; it’s certainly not among the first few things that come to mind when talking about England and Wales. However, data shows differently as the two regions ranked high in five categories – assault, burglary, total sexual violence, rape, sexual offenses against children and theft.
The highest ranks were for the last two categories, which indicates a higher rate of reporting of said acts. In truth, it is estimated that over 70 percent of sexual offenses go unreported to the authorities due to a series of reasons that have everything to do with the taboo nature of sex found in many areas of the world.
mauro_grigollo/Shutterstock.com
4. The USA
Score – 53
Well, with the way things are going in the United States nowadays, with mass shootings taking place more frequently, it’s enough to check out the news and figure out the country has a rather high crime rate. The United Nations ranks the United States of America among the nations with the highest crime rates on five different lists – burglary, robbery, theft, rape and assault. It ranks 4th on our list of countries with the highest crime rate per capita in the world.
There are, obviously, many other issues that you should be careful about when out in the open in the United States, but these seem to be the top of the top. That’s not to say that the homicide rate is low, or that people are safe from the other types of crime we’ve been covering here, thanks to data from the United Nations. In fact, the FBI’s data shows the US total violent crime had a 386.9 rate per 100,000 population in 2013, excluding, of course, all those unreported crimes that have taken places. Total property crime, on the other hand, ranks even higher with 2,859.2 per 100,000 population.
DmitriMaruta/Shutterstock.com
3. India
Score – 63
Up next on our list of countries with the highest crime rate per capita in the world is India, which is an extremely beautiful country, but it’s also one where violent offenses take place, as well as petty theft, for instance. Reports from the United Nations indicate that India ranked among the top nations for assault, homicide, car theft, rape, sexual offenses against children, and managed to rank first in kidnapping cases and total sexual violence. The situation is quite dire, thus, and visitors should be careful when out and about.
In fact, the United States Bureau of Diplomatic Security has issued security reports on several large cities across the Indian nation, such as Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Chennai. For all of these, the crime risk is set for a “medium” level, with mentions of non-violent crimes as being the most frequent.
Chaikom/Shutterstock.com
2. Mexico
Score – 59
The US southern neighbor comes up next on our list of countries with the highest crime rate per capita in the world with quite a score. Out of twelve possible categories, Mexico scored high for nine of them – homicide, assault, burglary, domestic burglary, kidnapping, car theft, rape, robbery and total sexual violence, with the highest scores going for break-ins.
The US Bureau of Diplomatic Security issued reports for multiple cities across Mexico, including Tijuana (Critical), Hermosillo (high), Nogales (critical), Ciudad Juarez (critical), Nuevo Laredo (critical), Matamoros (critical), Guadalajara (high), Monterrey (high), Mexico City (critical), and more. In short, the situation is quite dire, and you should be cautious when traveling to Mexico, even if it’s a vacation destination.
IBushuev/Shutterstock.com
1. Brazil
Score – 86
At the top of our list is Brazil, which is quite worrisome considering this is the destination country for this year’s Summer Olympics. In fact, according to UN data, Brazil scored high on ten out of twelve categories. Assault, burglaries, homicide, domestic burglaries, kidnapping, car theft, rape, robbery, theft, and total sexual violence are the categories where Brazil sits badly. Brazil even got the maximum score on a few of these, including homicide, car theft and robbery, so be vigilant if you do go visiting.
The US Bureau of Diplomatic Security issued security reports for multiple cities throughout the country, including Brasilia (critical), Rio de Janeiro (critical), and Recife (critical), with mentions of violent crimes taking place in all these locations and elsewhere.
You should, of course, take this ranking with a grain of salt since the data stops in 2014. Of course, there’s also the issue that the crime rates here and in other countries across the globe can be much higher since so many crimes go unreported to the police and cannot be included in such lists. Alas, with the data we do have right now, Brazil takes the top position on the list of the 11 countries with the highest crime rate per capita in the world.
Africa Studio/Shutterstock.com
