Homicides in Jamaica
Jamaica: Homicides was 1,404 homicides in 2023. ▲ Rising
Homicides in Jamaica, 1990–2023
Source: UN, World Population Prospects (2024); United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in homicides.
Analysis
In 2023, homicides in Jamaica stood at 1,404 homicides.
That represents a change of down 6.9% on the previous year and up 16.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, homicides in Jamaica peaked at 1,683 homicides in 2009 and was at its lowest, 544 homicides, in 1990.
Jamaica ranks 29th of 179 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 34 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 754.7 homicides | 544 homicides | 1,038 homicides | 10 |
| 2000s | 1,342 homicides | 887 homicides | 1,683 homicides | 10 |
| 2010s | 1,273 homicides | 1,005 homicides | 1,647 homicides | 10 |
| 2020s | 1,430 homicides | 1,333 homicides | 1,508 homicides | 4 |
Countries ranked near Jamaica
More social development data for Jamaica
- Political Rights Rating 2 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of asy 31 (2022)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of ori 2,642 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Key features of democracy 0.805 (2025)
- Freedom of Expression Index 0.919 (2025)
- Freedom of Association Index 0.879 (2025)
- Electoral Democracy Index 0.805 (2025)
- Participatory Democracy Index 0.524 (2025)
- Liberal Democracy Index 0.679 (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is homicides in Jamaica?
- Homicides in Jamaica was 1,404 homicides in 2023, according to UN, World Population Prospects (2024); United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest homicides recorded in Jamaica?
- The highest recorded value was 1,683 homicides in 2009.
- What is the lowest homicides recorded in Jamaica?
- The lowest recorded value was 544 homicides in 1990.
- How does Jamaica rank for homicides?
- Jamaica ranks 29th out of 179 countries with data for 2023.
- Is homicides rising or falling in Jamaica?
- Over the last ten years it is up 16.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Jamaica data come from?
- The figures come from UN, World Population Prospects (2024); United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Homicides. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 34 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Number of intentional homicides.