The places on earth with the highest rates of murder.

Fortunately for you, Australia’s nowhere near the top of the list…

The most macabre map ever invented – the “murder map” – is shining a bloody bright light onto the world’s most dangerous places.

And lucky for us Australians, we have a homicide rate of 1.1 per 100,000 inhabitants; in 2012, 254 people were killed in Australia, predominantly men.

Sure, zero is preferable. But when you compare our murder rate to that of Honduras, which has a rate of 85.5 per 100,000 residents, there’s a reason we’re dubbed the “Lucky Country”.

In fact, Latin American and Caribbean countries largely round out the top 10 countries for homicides, despite the idyllic images plastered all over their tourism guides.

Check out the world’s 10 deadliest countries:

Australia is among the safest nations, though not quite as safe as Liechtenstein, Singapore and Monaco (which had zero recorded homicides in 2008).

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom has a murder rate of 1 person per 100,000, while the US has a murder rate of 4.7 per 100,000 inhabitants. (Also, in the US, 60 per cent of victims were killed with a firearm, compared to only 17% of victims in Australia.)

The interactive Homicide Monitor, created by Brazilian think tank The Igarapé Institute, is believed to be the most comprehensive public data set of its kind.

The statistics — which show that there is a worldwide average of 6.2 murders per 100,000 inhabitants —  were collected from the UN and world governments in the hopes they could be used to build a brighter future by promoting safety and the development of policies based on the experiences in other countries.

On its website, the Igarapé Institute said it will continue to release this information, which allows the analysis of patterns and trends in lethal violence to assist in stopping the fatalities.

“Until quite recently, many governments were reluctant to publicise information on murder for fear of negatively affecting their country’s reputation, tourism and investment flows,” it says.

“Fortunately, attitudes are changing and there is growing openness and transparency about the scale and distribution of homicidal violence.”

Bravo. Let’s hope this information helps policy-makers put an end to these senseless deaths.

For more articles about deaths in Australia, try these:

Another woman killed in an alleged domestic violence murder. That makes 21.

He threatened to kill her. He shot her in the head. But he’s not guilty of her murder.

We need to find a better way to protect the children of murderers.

Killer sentenced for the murder of a Perth mother and daughter.

Do you have a news tip? Email us at news@mamamia.com.au.

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