At least 19,336 people were murdered in Venezuela in 2011, or an average of more than two every hour, or about 53 every day.
According to The Venezuela Violence Observatory (OVV), at that rate, Venezuela has one of the highest homicide rates in the world – the frequency of killings in the country is four times the number of murderous violence in Mexico and double the rate in Colombia.
The global average is 6.9 murders per 100,000 inhabitants.
The OVV report said that the high numbers are due, in part to high levels of gun ownership and the fact that most killings go unpunished. Robbery and kidnapping incidents have also been climbing.
