The 10 world cities with the highest murder rates – in pictures

Data from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime shows the most up-to-date available homicide rates per 100,000 people for the most populous cities of 137 countries. The Americas overtook Africa as the region with the highest murder rate in 2012 – with eight of the world’s 10 deadliest cities found there

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• theguardian.com, Tuesday 24 June 2014 14.35 BST
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10: Kingston, Jamaica. (Murder rate: 50.3 per 100,000 people in 2011)The UNODC numbers capture intentional homicide, defined as 'unlawful death purposefully inflicted on a person by another person'. A total of 328 people were murdered in Kingston in 2011 – significantly down on previous years. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

9: San Salvador. (Murder rate: 52.5 in 2012)The Central American country is riddled by powerful street gangs. A truce between the MS-13 and Barrio 18 gangs helped cut the country's murder rate to a 10-year low of five a day last year – but last month saw national rates double those of a year earlier. Photograph: Jose Cabezas/AFP/Getty

8: Panama City (Murder rate: 53.1 in 2012)
Violent crime started to rise in Panama in 2007 and topped 800 murders in 2009 – but national rates have been falling since 2010. The US Overseas Security Advisory Council ranks Panama as 'relatively safe' for Central America. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

7: Cape Town, South Africa (Murder rate: 59.9 in 2007)
Almost two-thirds of Cape Town murders took place in just 10 of the city's 60 police precincts, according to an analysis of 2012 crime hotspots by the Institute for Security Studies. Nationally, South Africa has halved its murder rate since the mid-90s. Photograph: Rodger Bosch/AFP

6: Maseru, Lesotho. (Murder rate: 61.9 in 2009)
A 2014 Osac report highlights endemic poverty, high unemployment and steadily declining wages for seasonal and mining workers in neighbouring South Africa. Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

5: Tegucigalpa, Honduras. (Murder rate: 102.2 in 2011)
Honduras’ homicide rate of 90.4 per 100,000 people is the world's highest. The capital, Tegucigalpa, is the country’s largest city, so features on the UNODC cities list, with 1,175 killings in 2011 – but San Pedro Sula has a higher rate. Photograph: Jorge Cabrera/Reuters

4: Belize City. (Murder rate: 105.1 in 2011)
The one-time British colony of Belize has the third highest national murder rate in the world. The majority of the homicides take place in the former capital of Belize City where gang violence is rampant, especially on the south side. Photograph: Nick Miroff/Washington Post via Getty Images

3: Guatemala City. (Murder rate: 116.6 in 2010)
Guatemala is still battling the legacy of a civil war which raged from 1960 to 1996. With a national average of 99.5 murders a week in 2012, Osac describes local officials as “often inexperienced and underpaid … [and] unable to cope”. Photograph: Rodrigo Abd/AP

2: Caracas, Venezuela. (Murder rate: 122 in 2009)
Worst hit are the poor barrios where police dare not enter, gangs rule and murders are routine,according to Reuters. The government refuses to release its own statistics, but a VOV report estimated 24,000 people were murdered in 2013. Photograph: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

1: Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis. (Murder rate: 131.6 in 2011)
This tiny Caribbean nation has a high proportion of murders relative to its small population. The total of 17 murders in the capital Basseterre in 2011, the year for which the latest data is available, was up from six the year before. Photograph: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

Asia did not feature in the UNODC's 10 highest homicide rates. Kathmandu in Nepal has the highest murder rate in the continent (18.5 per 100,000 people). The latest figures available to the UNODC were for 2006, the final year of a decade-long conflict between Maoist insurgents and security forces. Photograph: Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters

Chisinau in Moldova (pictured) has the third highest murder rate in Europe at 5.2, with Tallinn in Estonia on 5.5 and the Albanian capital of Tirana on 6.7. Photograph: Alamy

Glasgow's 12 murders in 2011 put it top of the UK list with a murder rate of 2.0 per 100,000 people. There were 100 killings in London (a rate of 1.3) the same year – a number which has been in pretty consistent decline. There were 177 killings in 2005. Photograph: Alamy

Three world cities – all in Europe – saw no murders in the latest years for which the UNODC used figures: Liechtenstein's capital Vaduz (pictured), Valletta in Malta and Monte Carlo. Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images