Homicides in El Salvador
El Salvador: Homicides was 5,954 deaths in 2021. ▲ Rising
Homicides in El Salvador, 2000–2021
Source: World Health Organization (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in deaths.
Analysis
The most recent figure for homicides in El Salvador is 5,954 deaths, measured in 2021. That is the highest value across all 22 years on record.
That represents a change of up 4.0% on the previous year and up 36.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, homicides in El Salvador peaked at 5,954 deaths in 2021 and was at its lowest, 3,709 deaths, in 2002.
That places El Salvador 18th out of 194 countries with data for 2021, putting it in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 22 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 4,081 deaths | 3,709 deaths | 4,475 deaths | 10 |
| 2010s | 4,829 deaths | 3,884 deaths | 5,537 deaths | 10 |
| 2020s | 5,840 deaths | 5,727 deaths | 5,954 deaths | 2 |
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 5,954 deaths in 2021, according to World Health Organization (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest homicides recorded in El Salvador?
- The highest recorded value was 5,954 deaths in 2021.
- What is the lowest homicides recorded in El Salvador?
- The lowest recorded value was 3,709 deaths in 2002.
- How does El Salvador rank for homicides?
- El Salvador ranks 18th out of 194 countries with data for 2021.
- Is homicides rising or falling in El Salvador?
- Over the last ten years it is up 36.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this El Salvador data come from?
- The figures come from World Health Organization (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Homicides. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 22 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Estimated number of deaths from interpersonal violence in both sexes.