North America

US gun homicide rate 25 times higher than other nations

35dc3ffa-c596-44fa-9e32-2c987f2aba4e

Americans are 25 times more likely to be murdered by a gun than people in other developed nations, according to a recent study.

Overall the death rate involving guns in the United States is 10 times higher than 22 other high-income countries, researchers from the University of Nevada-Reno and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health have found.

Homicide is the second leading cause of death for Americans between 15 to 24 years of age, the research revealed.

“More than two-thirds of the homicides in the US are firearm homicides and studies have suggested that the non-gun homicide rate in the US may be high because the gun homicide rate is high,” said Erin Grinshteyn, assistant professor at the University of Nevada-Reno School of Community Health Science and the study’s co-author.

The study found that the overall homicide rate in the US is seven times higher than other developed countries. When discounting guns, the homicide rate was 2.7 times higher.

The study, based on data from the World Health Organization, was published in the American Journal of Medicine.

When compared to other developed countries, gun-related suicide rate is also eight times higher in the US.

David Hemenway, a professor at Harvard, said differences in overall suicide rates across US cities and states are best explained by the “availability of firearms,” not by mental health or the attitude towards suicide.

Back to top button