The U.S. homicide rate has seen significant changes over the past decade, with a notable increase in recent years. In 2020, the homicide rate in the United States rose to 7.8 homicides per 100,000 people, which was the highest rate since 1995. However, it’s important to note that this rate was still significantly lower than the peak rates in the early 1980s, which exceeded 10 homicides per 100,000 people.
The year 2020 witnessed the largest one-year increase in the U.S. murder rate since at least 1905, and possibly the largest ever recorded. This dramatic rise was far more significant than the 20% increase seen in 2001, which was influenced by the terrorist attacks of September 11. The CDC’s provisional data indicated this steep rise, with the FBI noting a jump in the total number of murders from 16,669 in 2019 to 21,570 in 2020, marking the highest annual total since 1995.
This increase in homicides involved a higher proportion of firearm-related deaths, with the firearm injury death rate also showing a 14% increase from 2019 to 2020. Firearms were involved in 77% of murders for which data was available in 2020, up from 73% in 2019. Handguns were the most common type of firearm used in these murders.
There is not yet a clear consensus on the reasons for this dramatic increase in homicides. Experts have pointed to a variety of potential causes, including the economic and societal impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and changes in police-community relations following high-profile incidents like the murder of George Floyd. However, the exact reasons for the rise in murder rates remain uncertain and are subject to ongoing analysis and debate.
Despite the sharp increase in 2020, the U.S. murder rate remains below the levels recorded in the early 1990s and significantly lower than the rates seen in the 1970s and 1980s. This context is important for understanding the long-term trends in homicide rates in the United States.
DATA SOURCE: World Bank (via Human Progress).
Sign up for the Daily Dose Newsletter and get every morning’s best science news from around the web delivered straight to your inbox? It’s easy like Sunday morning.