Honestly, if you turn on the news today, it feels like the world is just one big shooting gallery. But if you actually sit down and look at the hard data—I mean the real, gritty violent gun crime statistics by country—the picture is a lot more complicated than a scary headline.
It’s easy to think every country is either "safe" or "dangerous." That’s not how this works. You’ve got places like El Salvador that have seen massive, almost unbelievable shifts in their homicide rates lately, and then you’ve got the United States, which is this weird outlier that experts keep trying to wrap their heads around.
The numbers from late 2025 and early 2026 show some surprising trends. Some places are getting much safer, while others are hitting a boiling point. Basically, where you live determines not just if you'll see a gun, but whether that gun is likely to be used for a crime, a suicide, or nothing at all.
The Global Leaders (For All the Wrong Reasons)
When we talk about pure volume and the highest rates of firearm-related homicides, Latin America and the Caribbean are still the epicenter. It’s heavy stuff. According to the latest UNODC Global Study on Homicide, firearms are used in about 67% of homicides in the Americas. Compare that to Europe, where it’s only around 12% to 15%.
Countries like Jamaica, Honduras, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines often top the list with rates exceeding 30 or even 40 deaths per 100,000 people. To put that in perspective, if those countries were U.S. states, they would make the most dangerous American cities look relatively quiet.
- Jamaica: Consistently sees some of the highest gun-related violence globally, often tied to gang "territorial" disputes.
- Brazil: While the total number of deaths is huge because of the population size, the actual rate has fluctuated as the government shifts its stance on gun ownership and policing.
- Ecuador: This is the one to watch. In the last couple of years, Ecuador went from being a relatively peaceful transit point to a country struggling with a massive surge in gun violence linked to drug cartels.
The American Anomaly
You can't talk about violent gun crime statistics by country without spending a lot of time on the United States. It's the only high-income nation where gun violence is a leading cause of death for children and adolescents.
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But here’s the kicker: the numbers for 2025 actually showed a significant drop in certain types of violence. Preliminary data from the Gun Violence Archive suggests that shooting deaths in the U.S. fell to about 14,651 in 2025, down from nearly 17,000 the year before. Mass shootings also dropped by about 20% compared to the record highs of 2021.
Does that mean the U.S. is "fixed"? Not even close.
The U.S. gun homicide rate is still roughly 26 times higher than that of other high-income peers like France, Germany, or the UK. And while homicides are dipping, firearm suicides are hitting record highs. In 2025, the U.S. saw more than 28,000 firearm suicides. That’s a different kind of "violent crime"—one committed against oneself—but it’s a huge part of the statistical footprint.
Why Some Countries Have Almost Zero Gun Crime
Then you look at the other side of the coin. Japan, Singapore, and South Korea. In these places, the annual number of gun homicides is often in the single digits. Not per 100,000 people. Single digits, total.
In Japan, the process to get a gun is so intense it’s almost a deterrent in itself. You have to attend classes, pass a written exam, pass a shooting range test, have a mental health evaluation, and undergo a deep background check that includes interviewing your neighbors and family.
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The result? A country where the "violent gun crime statistics" are basically a rounding error.
European Nuance
Europe isn't a monolith either. You’ve got places like Switzerland and Serbia with relatively high gun ownership but very low gun crime. Why? Experts like those at the Small Arms Survey suggest it’s because the "gun culture" there is tied to national defense or hunting, and is heavily regulated with a focus on storage and training, rather than self-defense.
Conversely, Sweden has seen a weird spike in recent years. While still safe compared to the Americas, Sweden has struggled with a rise in gang-related shootings and bombings, proving that even "safe" countries aren't immune to shifts in criminal dynamics.
The Data Gap: What We Don't Know
One thing that drives researchers crazy is the lack of data from parts of Africa and Southeast Asia. Many countries don't report consistent numbers to the UN. For example, in parts of the Sahel region, illegal firearms are everywhere due to conflict, but the "official" violent gun crime statistics by country won't show the true scale because there isn't a functioning police department to count the bodies.
We also have to be careful with how we define "violent crime."
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- Some countries count an "armed robbery" as a gun crime even if no shots were fired.
- Others only count it if someone ends up in the hospital.
- The U.S. often separates "homicide" from "legal intervention" (police shootings), while other nations lump them together.
Moving Beyond the Raw Numbers
So, what do we actually do with this? If you're looking at these stats to decide where to travel or how to vote, the context matters more than the number.
High gun ownership doesn't always mean high gun crime (see: Switzerland). However, easy access to handguns specifically—rather than rifles or shotguns—is almost always correlated with higher homicide rates in urban areas.
Actionable Insights for Navigating the Data:
- Look for the "Rate," not the "Total": A country with 50 million people will always have more "crime" than one with 5 million. Always look at the rate per 100,000 people to get a fair comparison.
- Check the Source: The UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) is the gold standard, but their data is often 2 years behind. For "live" data in the U.S., the Gun Violence Archive is the most cited, though it relies on media reports.
- Distinguish Between Suicide and Homicide: If a country has a high "gun death" rate, check if it's driven by violence against others or by self-harm. The policy solutions for these two problems are completely different.
- Monitor "Evolving" Situations: Don't rely on 2019 data. Places like Ecuador and El Salvador have moved in opposite directions so fast that old stats are basically useless now.
Understanding violent gun crime statistics by country requires looking past the political noise. It's not about being "pro-gun" or "anti-gun"; it's about seeing where the system is breaking down and where it's actually working.
To stay truly informed, you should regularly cross-reference the Small Arms Survey annual reports with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) global burden of disease data. These organizations provide the most nuanced view of how firearms impact public health and safety on a global scale.