Dangerous Places

Have you ever wondered where in the world, other than an active battlefield, you are at greatest danger of being murdered? See this Global Post article which begins with the recent murder of Miss Honduras, a Miss World contestant, and her sister.

The article continues with a discussion of the world's danger spots. Ten of the world's twelve most-dangerous-to-life countries are in the Caribbean/Latin America region.

In descending order of intentional homicides per 100,000 people these are Honduras, Venezuela, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Colombia, The Bahamas, and Trinidad & Tobago. Good places to avoid.

World regions vary widely in intentional homicide risk. Among those shown, Latin America & the Caribbean is worst, followed by Sub-Saharan Africa. Differences among Europe and Central Asia, South Asia, and North America aren't large. The lowest risk of intentional homicide is in East Asia & the Pacific. Numbers were not available for North Africa & the Middle East.

The article finishes with this quote:

For those in the United States, it might also be worth asking why America has the highest murder rate of any industrialized Western nation.

Perhaps because we have many violence-prone immigrants from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Sub-Saharan Africa? These are places where murder as a problem-solving approach is relatively common.