Sunday, December 30, 2012

Gun Ownership per capita compared to Murder Rate

In my blog just previous to this one, I discussed the varying murder rates in the world compared to the gun laws.  Somebody suggested I research actual gun ownership per capita and relate it to murder rates.  It seems like a good idea to compare these two stats because the argument is that reducing gun ownership would automatically lower the murder rate.  You could also compare gun ownership to the suicide rate, crime rate, what have you.  I would like to see it if you do.  This article concerns simply the murder rate.

The previous article listed this link for the murder rates in the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate

The list shows 6 different categories.  Here's how they break down:

Category 1 

25 countries, murder rate of .9 or less per 100,000

Category 2

36 countries, murder rate of 1.0-1.9

Category 3

45 countries, murder rate of 2.0-4.9

Category 4

27 countries, murder rate of 5.0-9.9

Category 5

37 countries, murder rate of 10.9-19.9

Category 6

37 countries, murder rate of 20.0-91.6

Notice that each category is significantly higher than the previous one, especially when you get to Category 6.  An item in Category 6 could easily be 80 times or more higher than an item in Category 1.  While a change from Category 2 to Category 3 could be a double or triple, a change from Category 2 to Category 5 could be 19x.  So be aware that Categories 5 and 6 are extremely worse than earlier Categories.

It is also interesting that there are a lot of countries that have extremely bad murder rates.  The cases are not isolated.  As noted earlier, the United States is in Category 3 at 4.2.  That puts the US at 99th out of 207, but remember that a number of countries following the US have exponentially higher rates, not just slightly higher.

When gun ownership per capita of each country is related to its murder rate, interesting patterns emerge.  Number of Guns per capita by Country.

Data is listed below.  There are 178 countries listed for guns per capita and 2 have no murder rate data, so we have 176 countries that we can compare these two stats to.

Here are the 25 countries with the highest rate of gun ownership compared to their murder rate.
  -->
Country
Guns per 100
residents (2007)
Rank
(2007)
Murder Rate Category
 United States
88.8
1
3
 Serbia
58.2
2
2
 Yemen
54.8
3
3
 Switzerland
45.7
4
1
 Cyprus
36.4
5
2
 Saudi Arabia
35
6
2
 Iraq
34.2
7
3
 Finland
32
8
3
 Uruguay
31.8
9
4
 Sweden
31.6
10
1
 Norway
31.3
11
1
 France
31.2
12
2
 Canada
30.8
13
2
 Austria
30.4
14
1
 Germany
30.3
15
1
 Iceland
30.3
15
1
 Oman
25.5
17
1
 Bahrain
24.8
18
1
 Kuwait
24.8
18
3
 Macedonia
24.1
20
2
 Montenegro
23.1
21
3
 New Zealand
22.6
22
1
 Greece
22.5
23
2
 United Arab Emirates
22.1
24
1
 Northern Ireland
21.9
25
2


Of the 25 highest countries gun ownership per capita, 10 countries are in Category 1, 8 in Category 2, 6 in Category 3, and 1 Category 4.  An extremely low murder rate in the countries with the highest rates of guns per capita.

Now for the lowest 25 countries gun ownership per capita.  2 countries are in Category 1, 1 country in Category 2, 7 countries in Category 3, 5 countries in Category 4, 7 countries in Category 5, and 3 countries in Category 6.  A much higher murder rate exists here in spite of the fact that only 1 person or less in 100 has a gun in this category while in the highest countries the gun ownership was from 21.9 to 88.8 people per 100 had a gun.  

Below country 61 in ranking for gun ownership, there are only 3 countries in Category 1 out of 115 countries.
 
There are a lot more ideas and conclusions that can be reached by looking at this data but one things is obvious...In general, the murder rate is extremely lower in countries with higher guns per capita than in lower guns per capita. The complete data follows:
  -->
Country
Guns per 100
residents (2007)
Rank
(2007)
Murder Rate Category
 United States
88.8
1
3
 Serbia
58.2
2
2
 Yemen
54.8
3
3
 Switzerland
45.7
4
1
 Cyprus
36.4
5
2
 Saudi Arabia
35
6
2
 Iraq
34.2
7
3
 Finland
32
8
3
 Uruguay
31.8
9
4
 Sweden
31.6
10
1
 Norway
31.3
11
1
 France
31.2
12
2
 Canada
30.8
13
2
 Austria
30.4
14
1
 Germany
30.3
15
1
 Iceland
30.3
15
1
 Oman
25.5
17
1
 Bahrain
24.8
18
1
 Kuwait
24.8
18
3
 Macedonia
24.1
20
2
 Montenegro
23.1
21
3
 New Zealand
22.6
22
1
 Greece
22.5
23
2
 United Arab Emirates
22.1
24
1
 Northern Ireland
21.9
25
2
 Croatia
21.7
26
2
 Panama
21.7
26
6
 Lebanon
21
28
3
 Equatorial Guinea
19.9
29
6
 Qatar
19.2
31
1
 Latvia
19
32
3
 Peru
18.8
33
5
 Angola
17.3
34
5
 Bosnia and Herzegovina
17.3
34
2
 Belgium
17.2
36
2
 Paraguay
17
37
5
 Czech Republic
16.3
38
2
 Thailand
15.6
39
3
 Libya
15.5
40
3
 Luxembourg
15.3
41
3
 Australia
15
42
2
 Mexico
15
42
6
 Mauritius
14.7
44
3
 Guyana
14.6
45
5
 Gabon
14
46
5
 Slovenia
13.5
47
1
 Suriname
13.4
48
3
 Guatemala
13.1
49
6
 South Africa
12.7
50
6
 Namibia
12.6
51
5
 Armenia
12.5
52
2
 Turkey
12.5
52
3
 Denmark
12
54
1
 Italy
11.9
55
1
 Malta
11.9
55
2
 Pakistan
11.6
57
4
 Jordan
11.5
58
2
 Chile
10.7
59
3
 Venezuela
10.7
59
6
 Spain
10.4
61
1
 Argentina
10.2
62
3
 Belize
10
63
6
 Costa Rica
9.9
64
5
 Estonia
9.2
65
4
 Somalia
9.1
66
2
 Transnistria
9.1
66

 Russia
8.9
68
5
 Zambia
8.9
68
6
 Albania
8.6
70
3
 Ireland
8.6
70
2
 Portugal
8.5
72
2
 Slovakia
8.3
73
2
 Jamaica
8.1
74
6
 Brazil
8
75
6
 Barbados
7.8
76
5
 Nicaragua
7.7
77
5
 Algeria
7.6
78
2
 Belarus
7.3
79
3
 Georgia
7.3
79
3
 Iran
7.3
79
3
 Israel
7.3
79
2
 Moldova
7.1
83
4
 Ukraine
6.6
84
4
 Maldives
6.5
85
2
 Kenya
6.4
86
6
 Swaziland
6.4
86
5
 Bulgaria
6.2
88
2
England and Wales
6.2
88
2
 Honduras
6.2
88
6
 Colombia
5.9
91
6
 El Salvador
5.8
92
6
 Hungary
5.5
93
2
 Scotland
5.5
93
2
 Sudan
5.5
93
6
 Cape Verde
5.4
96
5
 Seychelles
5.4
96
4
 Bahamas
5.3
98
6
 Dominican Republic
5.1
99
6
 Mozambique
5.1
99
4
 Morocco
5
101
2
 Botswana
4.9
102
5
 China
4.9
102
2
 Cuba
4.8
104
4
 Philippines
4.7
105
4
 Afghanistan
4.6
106
3
 Taiwan
4.6
106
3
 Zimbabwe
4.6
106
5
 Cambodia
4.3
109
3
 India
4.2
110
3
 Burma
4
111

 Netherlands
3.9
112
2
 Syria
3.9
112
3
 Turkmenistan
3.8
114
3
 Azerbaijan
3.5
115
3
 Egypt
3.5
115
2
 Bhutan
3.5
115
2
 Palestine
3.4
118
3
 Bolivia
2.8
119
4
 Cameroon
2.8
119
5
 Djibouti
2.8
119
3
 Congo
2.7
122
6
 Lesotho
2.7
122
6
 Ivory Coast
2.4
124
6
 Senegal
2
125
5
 Mongolia
1.9
126
4
 Comoros
1.8
127
5
 Vietnam
1.7
128
2
 Guinea-Bissau
1.6
129
6
 Liberia
1.6
129
5
 Mauritania
1.6
129
3
 Trinidad and Tobago
1.6
129
6
 Malaysia
1.5
133
3
 Nigeria
1.5
133
3
 Sri Lanka
1.5
133
3
 Uzbekistan
1.5
133
3
 Benin
1.4
137
5
 Brunei
1.4
137
1
 Democratic Republic of the Congo
1.4
137
6
 Tanzania
1.4
137
6
 Uganda
1.4
137
6
 Ecuador
1.3
142
4
 Kazakhstan
1.3
142
4
 Poland
1.3
142
2
 Burundi
1.2
145
6
 Laos
1.2
145
3
 Guinea
1.2
145
6
 Papua New Guinea
1.2
145
5
 Burkina Faso
1.1
149
5
 Chad
1.1
149
5
 South Korea
1.1
149
3
 Mali
1.1
149
4
 Central African Republic
1
153
6
 Tajikistan
1
153
3
 Togo
1
153
5
 Kyrgyzstan
.9
156
6
 Gambia
.8
157
5
 Madagascar
.8
157
4
 Nepal
.8
157
3
 Lithuania
.7
160
4
 Malawi
.7
160
6
 Niger
.7
160
3
 Romania
.7
160
3
 Haiti
.6
164
4
 Japan
.6
164
1
 North Korea
.6
164
5
 Rwanda
.6
164
5
 Sierra Leone
.6
164
5
 Bangladesh
.5
169
3
 Eritrea
.5
169
5
 Fiji
.5
169
3
 Indonesia
.5
169
4
 Singapore
.5
169
1
 Ethiopia
.4
174
6
 Ghana
.4
174
5
 Solomon Islands
.4
174
3
 Timor-Leste
.3
177
4
 Tunisia
.1
178
2
 



 

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