Sometimes you have to celebrate the little victories. Wake up after a big night out, haven’t made a fool of yourself…win. Drop your phone off the second floor, only crack screen…less of a win. 10 days without a murder in New York City…a pat on the back for you.

Yes guys, this is a record-setting run of murder-free days for the Big Apple. Time reports:

New York City—home to 8 million people—went 10 days without a murder as of 12:01 a.m. Thursday, breaking a record set in 2013 when it experienced nine full days without a homicide.

The latest crime stats from NYC point to a marked decrease in the murder rate over the past 20-odd years. In fact some stats point to a 90% decrease in homicides since 1990, which is mighty impressive.

How do our cuzzies up in Jozi fare then? Well according to Crime Stats SA they don’t fair as well. 2014 saw 743 murders REPORTED in Gauteng, as opposed to just 328 in NYC. Yes there is a far larger population in the province but the numbers don’t exactly equate. Population estimates from Gauteng come in at about 13 million so let’s play the percentages game…

328 murders in NYC with 8 million people…one murder per 24 390 people.

743 murders in Gauteng with 13 million people…one murder per 17 497 people.

Neither make for pretty reading but we don’t come out of the comparison looking too terrible.

Little victories guys. You could of course ruin your weekend with a comparison of the robbery, sexual assault and violent crimes statistics but it’s a Friday and we prefer to go out on a bang.

[sources:time&crimestatssa]