2 - All homicide

Summary

This category includes all murders and is a sub-category of all external deaths (see Map 5).

The map shows a concentration of higher murder rates in Scotland. Murder there, especially on the west coast, is more common than in the rest of Britain. It is only as common in the one part of Liverpool that also was the only area of England to have an overall mortality rate comparable to parts of Glasgow, and in one neighbourhood in south London. Across much of England, and even more of Wales, mortality rates from homicide are a quarter, half or three quarters of the national average rate and in several areas even lower than this.

The age–sex bar chart shows the age and sex distribution for those people whose deaths are recorded as murders. It shows that people of all ages are murdered, including young children. However, the total number of people murdered is relatively low, at an average of 320 a year or 6 per week; just one in 2,000 people die from this cause. Men are more likely to be victims of murder than are women, with rates being higher for men between the ages of 15 and 65. The average age of death of murder victims is just 35.9.

Deaths in England and Wales ascertained to be homicide more than a year after the event are not included in those mapped and counted here.