Top 5 Most Dangerous Cities in the World
With many countries, especially in Some parts of the Middles East and Africa, suffering from the throes of war and unrest in recent years, the world is marginally more unsafe than it has ever been. Tourists have to do extra background checks on cities they intend to visit before getting on a plane to ensure safety is guarantied to the highest possible level.
Excluding the countries mired in war and terrorism activities, the following are the cities with the highest murder rates in the world.
1. Panama City
Panama City is located on the isthmus connecting North and South America. It had a murder rate 53.1 in 2012.
Violent crime rose in Panama in 2007 and, according to a Guardian report, topped 800 murders in 2009. Even though the murder rate has been in decline since 2010, gun violence is still a prevalent epidemic in the city.
2. Maseru - Lesotho
Maseru is the capital of Lesotho and is located on the Caledon River, directly on the Lesotho-South Africa border. It had a murder rate of 61.9 in 2009.
According to a 2014 Osac report, endemic poverty, high unemployment and steadily declining wages for seasonal miners are prevalent in the city and are linked to the crime rate.
3. Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Tegucigalpa is the capital of Honduras, which is arguably one of the deadliest places in the world. With a homicide rate of 90.4 per 100,000 people, it is the world's highest. Tegucigalpa, is the country’s largest city, so features on the UNODC cities list, with 1,175 killings in 2011
4. San Pedro Sula, Honduras
With murder rates that eclipses that of Tegucigalpa, this is the most violent city in the world. A report in Guardian profiling the city in 2013 begins with
"No matter the time of day or night, morticians stand guard by the gate of the city morgue, waiting for the next body to be released so they can offer their services to grieving families. In the most violent city in the most violent country in the world, they never have to wait for long."
According to the Violence Observatory at the National Autonomous University of Honduras (NAUH), an average of 20 people were murdered every day in Honduras in a country of just 8 million inhabitants in 2012. That's a murder rate of 85.5 per 100,000 residents.
5. Guatemala City
(Murder rate: 116.6 in 2010) Guatemala is the capital city the Republic of Guatemala, and doubles as the most populous city in Central America. The civil war which raged from 1960 to 1996 in the country still casts a shadow over it. According to an Osac report Guatemala had a national average of 99.5 murders a week in 2012.