The United Nations has issued a report on homicides in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Dominican Republic is placed in 26th place regarding the number of homicides per 100,000 population.
Only Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, Argentina, the Cayman Islands, Cuba, Grenada, Chile and Bolivia have lower homicide rates than the Dominican Republic.
The country is far behind the leaders of Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. In fact, the Dominican population, overall, is nearly four times better off than Jamaica and three times better than Trinidad and Tobago, in regards to homicides.
The entire region has generally improved by nearly 19% over the last decade. The trend is most evident in the more populated areas such as Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
However, the study also points out that not all of the more populated countries are showing this reduction. Jamaica, the leader in homicides in all of the Latin American and Caribbean area, is one example, and Haiti is another.
Dominican sources indicate that nearly half of the homicides in the country are due to what they call “social issues.”
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Diario Libre
United Nations study
11 December 2023