Homicides in El Salvador
El Salvador: Homicides was 2,552 deaths in 2018. ▲ Rising
Homicides in El Salvador, 1990–2018
Source: WHO Mortality Database (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in deaths.
Analysis
El Salvador recorded 2,552 deaths for homicides in 2018.
The figure is down 21.6% on the previous year and down 9.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, homicides in El Salvador peaked at 5,461 deaths in 2015 and was at its lowest, 1,455 deaths, in 1990.
That places El Salvador 11th out of 113 countries with data for 2018, putting it in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 28 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 2,165 deaths | 1,455 deaths | 2,606 deaths | 9 |
| 2000s | 2,740 deaths | 1,957 deaths | 3,763 deaths | 10 |
| 2010s | 3,373 deaths | 2,164 deaths | 5,461 deaths | 9 |
Countries ranked near El Salvador
More social development data for El Salvador
- Political Rights Rating 5 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of asy 182 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of ori 68,182 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 0 (2025)
- Key features of democracy 0.321 (2025)
- Freedom of Expression Index 0.356 (2025)
- Freedom of Association Index 0.646 (2025)
- Electoral Democracy Index 0.321 (2025)
- Participatory Democracy Index 0.159 (2025)
- Liberal Democracy Index 0.09 (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is homicides in El Salvador?
- Homicides in El Salvador was 2,552 deaths in 2018, according to WHO Mortality Database (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest homicides recorded in El Salvador?
- The highest recorded value was 5,461 deaths in 2015.
- What is the lowest homicides recorded in El Salvador?
- The lowest recorded value was 1,455 deaths in 1990.
- How does El Salvador rank for homicides?
- El Salvador ranks 11th out of 113 countries with data for 2018.
- Is homicides rising or falling in El Salvador?
- Over the last ten years it is down 9.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this El Salvador data come from?
- The figures come from WHO Mortality Database (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 — 28 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Annual number of homicides.