Homicides in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka: Homicides was 252 deaths in 2019. ▲ Rising
Homicides in Sri Lanka, 1955–2019
Source: WHO Mortality Database (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in deaths.
Analysis
Sri Lanka recorded 252 deaths for homicides in 2019. That is the lowest value across all 42 years on record.
That represents a change of down 58.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, homicides in Sri Lanka peaked at 1,229 deaths in 1996 and was at its lowest, 252 deaths, in 2019.
That places Sri Lanka 35th out of 113 countries with data for 2019, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 42 years of available data.
Homicides in Sri Lanka, year by year
| Year | deaths | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1955 | 372 deaths | — |
| 1956 | 360 deaths | -3.2% |
| 1957 | 341 deaths | -5.3% |
| 1958 | 457 deaths | +34.0% |
| 1959 | 415 deaths | -9.2% |
| 1960 | 326 deaths | -21.4% |
| 1961 | 270 deaths | -17.2% |
| 1962 | 333 deaths | +23.3% |
| 1963 | 257 deaths | -22.8% |
| 1964 | 270 deaths | +5.1% |
| 1965 | 324 deaths | +20.0% |
| 1966 | 390 deaths | +20.4% |
| 1967 | 306 deaths | -21.5% |
| 1968 | 260 deaths | -15.0% |
| 1977 | 951 deaths | +265.8% |
| 1980 | 338 deaths | -64.5% |
| 1981 | 422 deaths | +24.9% |
| 1982 | 529 deaths | +25.4% |
| 1983 | 1,066 deaths | +101.5% |
| 1984 | 834 deaths | -21.8% |
| 1985 | 1,086 deaths | +30.2% |
| 1986 | 1,101 deaths | +1.4% |
| 1996 | 1,229 deaths | +11.6% |
| 1997 | 896 deaths | -27.1% |
| 1998 | 799 deaths | -10.8% |
| 1999 | 885 deaths | +10.8% |
| 2000 | 977 deaths | +10.4% |
| 2001 | 781 deaths | -20.1% |
| 2002 | 864 deaths | +10.6% |
| 2003 | 727 deaths | -15.9% |
| 2004 | 808 deaths | +11.1% |
| 2005 | 692 deaths | -14.4% |
| 2006 | 651 deaths | -5.9% |
| 2007 | 746 deaths | +14.6% |
| 2009 | 605 deaths | -18.9% |
| 2010 | 417 deaths | -31.1% |
| 2011 | 383 deaths | -8.2% |
| 2012 | 365 deaths | -4.7% |
| 2013 | 410 deaths | +12.3% |
| 2014 | 364 deaths | -11.2% |
| 2015 | 335 deaths | -8.0% |
| 2019 | 252 deaths | -24.8% |
Sri Lanka compared with similar countries
- Sri Lanka's 252 deaths is above the median for upper middle income countries, which is 135 deaths, 1.9× the median. (43 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Homicides in Sri Lanka changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | +265.8% | 260 deaths | 951 deaths |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 389 deaths | 341 deaths | 457 deaths | 5 |
| 1960s | 304 deaths | 257 deaths | 390 deaths | 9 |
| 1970s | 951 deaths | 951 deaths | 951 deaths | 1 |
| 1980s | 768 deaths | 338 deaths | 1,101 deaths | 7 |
| 1990s | 952.25 deaths | 799 deaths | 1,229 deaths | 4 |
| 2000s | 761.22 deaths | 605 deaths | 977 deaths | 9 |
| 2010s | 360.86 deaths | 252 deaths | 417 deaths | 7 |
Countries ranked near Sri Lanka
More social development data for Sri Lanka
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 213 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 148,369 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 3 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, gaps filled 3 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0068 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 148,369 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is homicides in Sri Lanka?
- Homicides in Sri Lanka was 252 deaths in 2019, according to WHO Mortality Database (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest homicides recorded in Sri Lanka?
- The highest recorded value was 1,229 deaths in 1996.
- What is the lowest homicides recorded in Sri Lanka?
- The lowest recorded value was 252 deaths in 2019.
- How does Sri Lanka rank for homicides?
- Sri Lanka ranks 35th out of 113 countries with data for 2019.
- Is homicides rising or falling in Sri Lanka?
- Over the last ten years it is down 58.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Sri Lanka 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 — 42 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Annual number of homicides.