In terms of number of murders worldwide, India is followed by Russia (28,904), Colombia (26,539), South Africa (21,995), Mexico (13,829) and the United States (12,658).
Following is a look at the eight most murderous countries in the world.
1) India: Nithari murders & 32,000 others
Number of people murdered: 32,719
India recorded the highest number of murders in 2006 and the trend shows no signs of receding. Recent months have seen the magnifying glass being focused on crimes of passion, but the problem is bigger than that. From rising inequalities in both rural and urban areas to caste and communal reasons, crime in India is totally different from crime in the rest of the world.
If guns, drugs and organised crime are behind the high murder rates in most parts of the world, pegging it to any one reason in India is next to impossible.
In the latest crime survey, the spotlight is turned to mega cities, which account for a huge chunk of violent crime. Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore account for more than 33 per cent of crime in 35 major cities of India. With dowry deaths and honour killings also on the rise, there is no single antidote for curbing murder in India.
Number of people murdered in 2005: 55,000
If India topped the murder statistics in 2006, it is only because figures for Brazil were not available. But figures for the previous year and reports of murders rising further mean there is no way India can dislodge Brazil from its deadly perch. While 3 people per 1,00,000 are killed every year in India, Brazil's murder rate is 10 times more than that of India and translates to roughly six persons being killed every hour. In terms of civilian casualties, this is second only to Iraq, a war zone. This nation of close to 200 million people is a prime example of how class-divide fuels crime. The country is littered with urban slums, which even the law enforcement agencies refuse to enter.
But the government says crime has been in the decline since states began an initiative to take back guns from the streets. It claims that the programme is a success with citizens in places like Rio de Janeiro, whose urban slums have the highest crime rates in Brazil, taking the initiative to return weapons by the thousands.
But it is not just about the guns. Total lack of faith in the police among people means taking law into your own hands is the only recourse. While most murders get reported due to the nature of the crime, disturbing surveys have also shown that only 25 per cent of all robberies and 15 percent of all rapes are reported nationwide.
Number of people murdered: 28,904
Major socio-economic changes in the recent decades have fueled Russian crime rates, which have more than doubled between the 1990s and 2000s.This followed the first spike when Russia was in the cusp of transition to a market economy after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Criminologists also attribute the rise to social problems like rising alcoholism, drug addiction and the strains caused by economic difficulties.
Though Moscow is comparatively devoid of street crime along the lines of Latin American and US cities, it still is the murder capital of Europe, with a murder rate of 15.
The two recent problems are racial crime against Africans and Asians and contract killings.
These contract killings -- a 2006 study showed there were five every month -- are attributed to the reason that more businessmen and officials are saying no to corruption. Another unsubstantiated theory is the link between rising violence and the recent controversial struggle for political power, which saw Vladimir Putin step down as president and become prime minister. Those who subscribe to this theory point to the last transfer of power in 2000, which was also preceded by violence.
Number of people murdered: 26,539
This is a country where a footballer was shot dead for scoring an own-goal. World crime statisticians use two parameters: number of murders and murder rate. There was only one constant in both the lists: Colombia, rightly dubbed Locombia (Crazy Colombia). Though the drug cartel and civil war-ravaged country has the highest murder rate in the world, there has been good news.
Murder rates have been falling and the government has had some success with tackling urban crime. A look at some of the things that Colombia did right and which other countries can look up to.
It increased the police force by almost 20 per cent. This force in turn increased its network of informants manifold. The initial success spurred the people on to cooperate better with the law enforcement officials who they slowly began to trust.
The Colombians did it so well that El Salvador and Rio are following them step-by-step.
Though it is a long way from becoming a paradise, a single piece of statistic shows that the Colombians are on the right track. In 1993, the city of Bogota witnessed 4,500 murders, at a rate of 80/100000.
In 2006, the murders were down to just over a thousand, indicating a 75 per cent drop in murder rate.
Number of people murdered: 21,995
This ranking is sort of a climb-down for South Africa, which had the highest murder rate in the world at 59/10000 in 1998, one of the last years that the Interpol made public its crime statistics. Though the government claims that murder rates are on the decline, experts are not swayed. One study asked of South Africa, dubbed the murder capital of the world: �Incidents of rape have increased, car jacking is at an unprecedented high. Attempted murder rates are on the rise. And the government wants the world to believe that the murder rates are going down?�
Recently the government has had a widely-publicised gun amnesty programme to reduce the number of weapons in circulation. In addition, it adopted the National Crime Prevention Strategy in 1996, which aimed to prevent crime through reinforcing community structures and helping individuals back into work.
But the people of South Africa are not ready to buy the government claim. Many high and middle income families hire armed private security guards to do the basic job expected of any government: protect them.
Another most visible sign that the people are really worried is the increasing number of gated communities.
These usually comprise a group of suburban street blocks whose road exits have been fenced off with the exception of one or more entrances that are monitored by guards. Of course employed by private security companies.
Number of people murdered: 13,829
When the State sends in the military to tackle drug cartels and organised crime syndicates, one can understand the seriousness of the problem. Some 30,000 soldiers and federal police have now been deployed to a dozen states throughout Mexico as part of President Filipe Calderon's war on drug cartels and organised crime.
Though the military made strong gains since Calderon took over in 2006, seizing record amounts of cocaine and extraditing 73 suspected drug traffickers to the United States for trial in 2007, the drug cartels are ready to play the waiting game -- ducking when the military has the upper hand and resurfacing when the military turns its attention elsewhere.
Not only that, when they resurface, they do so with renewed firepower and the local police is left to face the wrath. Thus, morale is on a downward spiral among cops, thanks to the military action.
In the two years since they began fighting crime, soldiers too have lost the will to fight: in 2007, more than 18,000 soldiers deserted. And worse, most of them join the scum they started out to weed, joining the drug cartels as 'zetas' (guns for hire)!
Number of people murdered: 12,658
In a survey of 20 American and European cities, all the nine American cities polled placed within the top 12, leaving the European cities far behind. Capital Washington, DC, topped the poll with a murder rate of almost 70 people per 100,000, more than thrice the second-placed Philadelphia.
The high incidence of violent crimes is attributed to the fact that criminals in America are more likely to have firearms. A state department document cited argument -- including about money and property under the influence of alcohol or narcotics -- as the most common reason for murders. One-third of all recent murders were triggered by arguments. Criminal activities like rape, theft, and narcotics accounted for a fifth of murders and gang killings accounted for one-twentieth.
But crime rates has fluctuated considerably over the course of the last 50 years, rising significantly in the late 1960s and 1970s, peaking in the 1980s and then decreasing considerably in the 1990s. Over the past 30 years, the crime rate rose throughout the 1980s, reached its peak in 1991 and then began to decrease throughout the 1990s and 2000s.
But in the 2000s, crime and murder rates have stagnated with no visible signs of a further drastic dip.
Number of people murdered: 8,022
When people take to the streets in protest against soaring murder rate, then you know the country is in trouble. A country of 30 million people, Venezuela sees 10,000 people murdered on its streets every year. A corrupt police system has been of little help, pushing people to take justice in their own hands and it is said that in recent times, you can get a person killed for as little as $50 (roughly Rs 2000). This despite laws being made stringent to ensure that only police officers can get gun licences.
Its capital Caracas has the highest murder rate among the mega cities of the world. A US State Department travel advisory says: �Travel to and from Maiquetia Airport, the international airport serving Caracas can be dangerous. Travellers at the airport have been victims of personal property theft, as well as mugging and 'express kidnapping' in which individuals are taken to make purchases or to withdraw as much money as possible from ATMs, often at gunpoint.�
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