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8. International comparisons of homicide rates ( Table 18)
8.1 Care must be taken in making international comparisons of crime statistics due to different counting rules and definitions, e.g. some countries include attempted murders in their homicide figures. However, it is of interest to observe how Scotland's homicide rate compares with those in other countries. The rates shown in Table 18 are the average annual rates for the period 2000 to 2002, as these are the latest published data available for most countries. Scotland's average yearly homicide rate between 2000 and 2002 was 23 victims per million population. This was higher than the rate in England and Wales (17), lower than in Northern Ireland (28) and comparable with the rates of Poland (21) and Hungary (22).
8.2 Glasgow had a homicide rate of 63 victims per million population between 2000 and 2002, similar to the rate in Belfast (62) and a little over double the rate in London (27). The homicide rates in the other Scottish cities were relatively low compared with the other European cities listed in Table 18.
8.3 A World Health Organisation study published in September 2005 contained an international comparison of homicide rates. This showed Scotland to have a homicide rate more than three times the rate in England and Wales. However, this was not a like with like comparison as not all categories of homicide were included in the data used for England and Wales. A PDF version of the study can be found at www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/en/full_en.pdf.
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