So much for my plans of a once-in-a-lifetime motorcycle trip from Panama to Vancouver Island. That route, it seems, has become Murder Alley.
While we're all becoming aware of violent crime in Mexico, it's actually Honduras that is now the murder capital of the world. There the latest murder rate is 82.1 per 100,000 followed by El Salvador at 66 and Guatemala at 41.4. Canada's is about 1.6 per 100,000. The Latin American average is about 26.
And, in Canada, you're actually safer in big cities than in the countryside.
According to a 2010 report by Statistics Canada, the murder rate is higher outside big cities, and has been for at least a decade. The study measured homicides in the country’s 34 census metropolitan areas (CMA) — urban areas with a population of 100,000 or more — and found that in 2010 the average murder rate was 1.5 per 100,000 people. For non-CMAs, which encompass rural areas, the rate was 1.9.
For the period 2000 to 2009, the murder rate in CMAs compared to non-CMAs was less dramatic — 1.81 to 1.92 — but still suggested that living in the countryside was more deadly, statistically. (It's worth noting that Canada's rates are still very low compared to those in the U.S. The 2010 murder rate in New Orleans, for example, was 49.1 per 100,000 people.)
How many murders and sexual assault in Canada since the beginning of 2012? Actually, China is the worse place where Canadians have been killed.
ReplyDeleteI've been traveling around Mexico by bus for a month. Haven't felt unsafe once.
ReplyDeleteSpent three weeks in Nicaragua three years. Felt safe there except in Managua.
Now, Guatemala is a different story.
I expect Baja remains relatively safe but it's getting through the border region that seems sketchy. By "bus", do you mean commercial transit or are you driving a converted machine yourself?
ReplyDeleteCanada is a much safer place than the U.S.A. & Central America. It has become less safe because of the influx of American guns. The same problem can be found in Mexico.
ReplyDeleteThe Canadian government, under Stephen Harper's leadership, has removed our federal long gun registry. This will not make things safer for Canadians. Long guns are found in rural areas where policing is less available.
Many of the murder victims in rural areas are First Nations' women. The perpetrators of these crimes are frequently not caught, note the "highway of tears" in B. C. where 16 women have been murdered & no one arrested. So if you are male & riding a motorcyle you'll be quite safe.