Gun violence takes a epic rise around the world, and fresh statistics released in 2023 and 2024 shows the worst places the crisis is. Although Latin America is the most affected region, the United States is the only developed nation that represents an exception in an alarming way. Behind those numbers are tragedies of families destroyed, children taken away too early, and communities trying to escape patterns of dread and violence.
Latin America’s Alarming Numbers
The latest international homicide and firearm mortality statistics indicate that nations in Latin America and the Caribbean continue to have the world’s highest rates of death caused by guns. In a few countries, death due to guns is soaring well beyond global levels, driven by organized crime, gang warfare, and poverty.
Highest-firearm death rates are found in:
- Venezuela
- El Salvador
- Honduras
- Colombia
- Jamaica
- Brazil
- Guatemala
These countries continue to produce per-capita firearm mortality rates that are reeling compared with the rest of the globe. In most neighbourhoods, the free exchange of legal and illegal firearms has converted streets into combat zones, forcing kids to mature while living in the climate of violence.
What Drives the Crisis
Poor governance, bribery, and the profitable drug trade drive much of this violence. Cartels and gangs fight over control of smuggling routes, but weak law enforcement leaves other citizens at their mercy. Meanwhile, social inequality shaped by joblessness, poor education, and few opportunities drives many young men into gang membership as a survival strategy. The outcome is a disastrous cycle of violence that global interventions to date have failed to stop.
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US: A Troubling Exception Among the Wealthiest Nations
The US doesn’t lead the world’s statistics, but among other rich nations, it stands out as an exception. In 2023, there were 46,728 deaths by firearms in the US a rate of approximately 13.7 per 100,000 inhabitants. Suicides accounted for almost 60% of the deaths, and homicides for approximately 38%.
Perhaps the most surprising statistic is that firearms remain the leading cause of death for American children and teenagers. In 2023 alone, 2,581 children under 18 lost their lives to guns, nearly a 50% increase since 2019. Comparable countries like Canada, Australia, and Japan report rates that are a part of this figure.
This combination of cultural fault lines over gun ownership, political deadlock on reform, and sheer volume of weapons in circulation locks America in a crisis that distinguishes it from peers.
