The release of the latest Crime Statistic report indicated that the Western Cape is the country’s murder capital, but where does South Africa rank on the global index of most dangerous and violent countries? The 2018 Global Peace Index shows that the state of safety for locals is deteriorating rapidly.
The Index is a study conducted by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), and measures how peaceful a country is on a global scale. It also calculates how violence in a country affects its overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Violence across the world is measured at approximately 12.4% of the global GDP – this costs approximately $14.76-trillion per year.
The report shows that South Africa ranks as the 125th most peaceful country in the world. This out of 165 countries studied, and puts the country on the lower end of the scale.
South Africa ranked at number 123 in 2017, meaning that it has dropped by two places since then.
The country performed badly in all six categories, which include the perceptions of locals with regards to crime levels, access to weapons, the number of violent demonstrations and levels of political terror.
The two factors that have the most alarmingly high incidence rates are the high levels of homicide and violent crime.
South Africa also ranks within the bottom 20 of the world’s overall societal safety and security category, sitting at number 18.
The report also reflects that the country murder rate is recorded at 33 people per 100 000 of the population, placing SA firmly in the top 10 for the world’s most violent places. The crime statistics show that the country’s murder rate has grown and that 36 murders occur for every 100 000 people. This equates to approximately 57 murders per day.
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