Homicides increased by 30% in the United States in 2020

The United States recorded more than 21,500 homicides in 2020, up 30% year on year, according to statistics released Monday by the Federal Police (FBI). This peak had already been reported by several large cities but these are the first official figures and consolidated from data from nearly 16,000 of the 18,000 law enforcement agencies that exist in the country. They show that the rise in homicides, particularly marked from June, has spared no part of the American territory, even if Louisiana remains at the top of the deadliest states. The increase is the fastest since the FBI began collecting data in the 1960s, and brings homicide totals to a level not seen in 25 years, but still below the peak of the 1980s.

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Experts struggle to explain this phenomenon, which some link to the pandemic and its destabilizing effects, while others insist on the impact of major demonstrations against police violence or on the increase in sales of firearms.

According to the FBI report, 77% of homicides were committed with firearms in 2020, up from 74% in 2019. The federal police have not yet released data for 2021 but preliminary figures communicated by major cities in the countries do not show ebb.

There were 6.5 homicides per 100,000 population in 2020 in the United States.

By comparison, in 2018 there were 35 in Mexico, 27 in Brazil, 8 in Russia and 1 in France or Germany, according to the latest figures from the World Bank.