The homicide rate in Latin America, for most nations, has historically always been high. Elevated poverty levels, drug smuggling, gangs, and illegal migration are some of the reasons many of these nations have the issue of elevated murder rates.
The issue came to light even more in 2023 when the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, and his counterpart from El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, clashed on Twitter over El Salvador’s new mega-prison and their nation’s homicide rates. The social media argument between the presidents raises the question; what Latin American country had the lowest homicide rate in 2022?
The countries with the lowest homicide rate in Latin America in 2022 were Chile at 4.6, Nicaragua at 6.7, Paraguay at 7.6, El Salvador at 7.8, and Uruguay at 11.2.
The countries with the highest homicide rate in Latin America in 2022 were Jamaica at 52.9, Venezuela at 40.4, Trinidad & Tobago at 39.4, Honduras at 35.8, and Colombia at 26.1.
The following is the homicide rate per 100,000 Inhabitants for all Latin American countries since 2018. Only territories with a population of over one million people and that have reported their homicide rate for the last two years were included.
| 2022 Rank |
Country | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chile | 2.7 | 2.6 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 4.6 |
| 2 | Nicaragua | — | 7.5 | 4.4 | 5.7 | 6.7 |
| 3 | Paraguay | 5.1 | — | 6.6 | 7.4 | 7.6 |
| 4 | El Salvador | 50.0 | 36.0 | 20.0 | 18.1 | 7.8 |
| 5 | Uruguay | 11.8 | 9.8 | 9.3 | 8.5 | 11.2 |
| 6 | Panama | 9.6 | 11.2 | 11.6 | 12.8 | 11.5 |
| 7 | Dominican Republic | 10.4 | 9.5 | 9.0 | 10.3 | 11.9 |
| 8 | Costa Rica | 11.7 | 11.0 | 11.2 | 11.5 | 12.2 |
| 9 | Guatemala | 22.4 | 21.5 | 15.3 | 16.6 | 17.3 |
| 10 | Puerto Rico | 20.0 | 20.1 | 16.5 | 19.3 | 17.4 |
| 11 | Brazil | 25.0 | 19.7 | 19.3 | 18.5 | 18.8 |
| 12 | Mexico | 25.8 | 27.0 | 27.0 | 26.0 | 25.2 |
| 13 | Ecuador | 5.7 | 6.7 | 7.7 | 14.0 | 25.9 |
| 14 | Colombia | 25.0 | 25.4 | 24.3 | 26.8 | 26.1 |
| 15 | Honduras | 40.0 | 41.2 | 37.6 | 38.6 | 35.8 |
| 16 | Trinidad & Tobago | 37.5 | 37.4 | 28.2 | 32.0 | 39.4 |
| 17 | Venezuela | 81.4 | 60.3 | 45.6 | 40.9 | 40.4 |
| 18 | Jamaica | 47.0 | 47.4 | 46.5 | 49.4 | 52.9 |
| — | Argentina | 5.2 | 5.0 | 4.6 | — | — |
| — | Bolivia | 6.3 | — | — | — | — |
| — | Haiti | — | — | 13.0 | 13.7 | — |
| — | Peru | 7.8 | 8.5 | 8.3 | 4.3 | — |
Over the last three years, most countries have maintained their usual numbers; However, El Salvador and Ecuador saw drastic changes, one got better, and the other worsened.
The country with the best improvement in the homicide rate in 2022 from the previous year is El Salvador; the Central American country murder rate dropped by 10.3, going from 18.1 murders for 100,000 inhabitants in 2021 to 7.8 in 2022.
The worst goes to Ecuador. The South American nation saw its homicide rate increase by 11.9; the murder rate per 100,000 people went from 14.0 in 2021 to 25.9 in 2022.
