[imagesource: iStock]

Four major South African cities are sitting ashamedly on the Mexican Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice’s list of the 50 most violent cities in the world.

Let’s just be grateful that none of those cities is sitting in the top 10, which is dominated by Mexican cities.

Per BusinessTech, the ranking of the 50 most violent cities is a calculation of the number of murders per 100 000 people.

The report also only considers cities with populations of 300 000 people or more, where murder statistics are made available.

South Africa’s data was calculated from local statistics published by Stats SA and the South African Police Service.

Zamora in Mexico is ranked as the most violent city in the world, with over 196 murders per 100 000 people.

Cape Town, the first SA city to feature on the list at number 11, has a murder rate of 62,22 people murdered per 100 000.

Although Cape Town’s murder rate is less, it still has the highest number of murders overall, with 2 911 murders recorded for the period.

The column starting with 610 is total deaths, the column starting with 310 228 is total population, and the final column shows murders per 100 000 people.

Spot the other South African cities on the list.

Image: seguridadjusticiaypaz.org

Image: seguridadjusticiaypaz.org

The second South African city to feature is Gqeberha (Nelson Mandela Bay) at number 23, having jumped up from 45th in 2018/19, with a murder rate of 52,3 per 100 000 people.

Third is Durban, which now ranks at 35 down from 31 last year, with a murder rate of 39,98 per 100 000 people.

Joburg’s position at 48 also seems to suggest that there have been improvements, having recorded 1 853 murders (down from 2 182 murders in 2020) with a murder rate of 30,8 per 100 000 people.

I guess it is good to see that on a global level, the overall trend for our country seems to show some crime stat improvements.

[source:businesstech]