A list (in Spanish) of the world's most violent cities was released earlier this year by Citizen
Council for Public Safety and Criminal Justice (Consejo Ciudadano para la Seguridad Pública y la Justicia Penal), a Mexican think tank.
Because the statistics focused on intentional homicide, and not on war, the list excludes Middle Eastern cities.
Every country in the top 20 comes from Latin America, with the only exception being New Orleans (number 17). Overall, 37 of the top 50 are Latin American, and the same five countries (Honduras, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, and Brazil) comprise the top 10. Each city has a population over 100,000 people.
Other U.S. cities in the top 50 include Detroit (21), St. Louis (40), Baltimore (41), and Oakland (43). This is different from the list of deadly American cities, as the only metric used here is the homicide rate.
Here are the 10 most deadly cities in the world:
1. San Pedro Sula, Honduras
For the second year in a row, San Pedro Sula took the title of "most violent city in the world," with record 169 homicides per 100,000 people. There were 1,218 total murders there last year.
2. Acapulco, Mexico
The tourist hot spot had 143 homicides per 100,000 people last year. The total murder count was 1,170. Acapulco went up, i.e. got worse from being in the fourth place the year before.
3. Caracas, Venezuela
The Venezuelan capital had 119 homicides per 100,000 people. Overall, there were 3,862 murders. Caracas was in the sixth place the year before.
4. Distrito Central, Honduras
The second Honduran city on this list, Distrito Central recorded 102 homicides per 100,000 people. There were 1,149 murders overall. It went up one spot from the year before.
5. Torreón, Mexico
The second Mexican city on this list, Torreón had 95 homicides per 100,000 people, and 1,087 murders in total. It was in the seventh place the year before.
6. Maceió, Brazil
This beautiful coastal city had 86 homicides per 100,000 people, with a total murder count of 801. Maceió actually dropped from being in the third place the year before.
7. Cali, Colombia
The most populous city in western Colombia, Santiago de Cali recorded 79 homicides per 100,000 people, and 1,819 total murders. It was number 11 on last year's list.
8. Nuevo Laredo, Mexico
Directly across the Rio Grande from Laredo, Texas, this city had 73 homicides per 100,000 people, and 288 murders overall. Nuevo Laredo shot up from being in the 28th place last year.
9. Barquisimeto, Venezuela
The second Venezuelan city on this list, Barquisimeto had 72 homicides per 100,000 people, and 804 murders. It also shot up from being in the 24th place the year before.
10. João Pessoa, Brazil
The easternmost city in the Americas, João Pessoa had 71 homicides per 100,000 people, and 518 murders in total. It jumped from being in the 29th place last year.
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