- The City of Cape Town has been ranked the most dangerous city in South Africa and 12th globally
- Durban and Gqeberha also ranked within the top 20 violent cities in the world on the Mexican Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice's ranking
- The City of Cape Town also has the highest number of murders in the world, followed by Johannesburg
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JOHANNESBURG - The City of Cape Town has been ranked the most dangerous city in South Africa according to the latest Mexican Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice.
The annual ranking report ranks the 50 most violent cities globally based on the available data.
3 South African cities ranked in the top 20
According to the report, Cape Town is ranked 12th on the list of the most violent cities, with 2 998 murders among the population of 4.76 million people. This gives the city a murder rate of 63 per 100 000, reports BusinessTech.
Durban is ranked number 15 on the list with 2 405 murders among the population of 4.05 million, followed by Gqeberha at number 18 with 687 murders among the 1.2 million population.
While Gqeberha may have fewer murders, the city has a murder rate of 56.99 per 100 000.
Although Johannesburg is ranked at number 34 on the list, it has the second-highest murder rate in the world after Cape Town, with 2 574 per 6.1 million. This means Joburg has a murder rate of 41.43 per 100 000.
Mexican cities amongst the most violent in the world
This list mostly comprises Mexican cities and cities from the United States of America. The most violent city in Mexico and the world is Colima (AM), with a murder rate of 181.43 per 100 000.
Other countries on the list include Brazil, Colombia, Jamaica, Honduras, Haiti, Ecuador and Puerto Rico.
Here's a breakdown of the most dangerous city in the respective countries:
| Name | No. of murders | Population | Murder rate |
| Colima (Mexico) | 601 | 330 329 | 181.94 |
| New Orleans (USA) | 266 | 376 971 | 70.56 |
| Kingston (Jamaica) | 722 | 1 235 013 | 58.46 |
| Salvador (Brazil) | 2 085 | 3 678 414 | 56.68 |
| Puerto Principle (Haiti) | 1 596 | 2 915 000 | 54.75 |
| Guayaquil (Ecuador) | 1 537 | 3 217 353 | 47.77 |
| Cali (Colombia) | 1 007 | 2 392 381 | 42.09 |
| San Juan (Puerto Rico) | 125 | 337 300 | 42.09 |
| San Pedro Sula (Honduras) | 278 | 771 627 | 36.06 |
It is important to note that various organisations, such as Armorax and Statista, release their own findings, and they usually differ slightly.
For example, on Statista, Cape Town is ranked among the world's top 10 most violent cities.
Crime stats: 3.1% dip in murders in South Africa
Briefly News previously reported that Police Minister Bheki Cele and the who's who in SA’s policing sector presented the latest crime statistics for the first quarter of the 2023/24 financial year on Friday, 18 August.
The number of murders between April and June of 2023 dropped by 3.1%, an achievement that should be celebrated but is overshadowed by the fact that murders of women and children increased.
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