Homicides in Nigeria
Nigeria: Homicides was 18,463 deaths in 2021. ▲ Rising
Homicides in Nigeria, 2000–2021
Source: World Health Organization (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in deaths.
Analysis
Nigeria recorded 18,463 deaths for homicides in 2021. That is the highest value across all 22 years on record.
The figure is up 0.4% on the previous year and up 7.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, homicides in Nigeria peaked at 18,463 deaths in 2021 and was at its lowest, 16,374 deaths, in 2000.
Nigeria ranks 6th of 194 countries on this measure, 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 | 16,880 deaths | 16,374 deaths | 17,227 deaths | 10 |
| 2010s | 17,826 deaths | 17,110 deaths | 18,407 deaths | 10 |
| 2020s | 18,429 deaths | 18,394 deaths | 18,463 deaths | 2 |
Countries ranked near Nigeria
More social development data for Nigeria
- Political Rights Rating 4 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of asy 123,848 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of ori 478,150 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 0 (2025)
- Key features of democracy 0.505 (2025)
- Freedom of Expression Index 0.849 (2025)
- Freedom of Association Index 0.846 (2025)
- Electoral Democracy Index 0.505 (2025)
- Participatory Democracy Index 0.323 (2025)
- Liberal Democracy Index 0.311 (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is homicides in Nigeria?
- Homicides in Nigeria was 18,463 deaths in 2021, according to World Health Organization (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest homicides recorded in Nigeria?
- The highest recorded value was 18,463 deaths in 2021.
- What is the lowest homicides recorded in Nigeria?
- The lowest recorded value was 16,374 deaths in 2000.
- How does Nigeria rank for homicides?
- Nigeria ranks 6th out of 194 countries with data for 2021.
- Is homicides rising or falling in Nigeria?
- Over the last ten years it is up 7.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Nigeria 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.