Italy's homicide rate falls to the third lowest in the European Union

Italy now has the third-lowest rate of intentional homicide in the European Union. The official 2023 figure was 0.57 per 100,000 inhabitants, against a European average of 0.91. On an age-standardised basis the rate was 0.4, compared with an EU average of almost 0.7. Italy's figures are a sharp fall from the peak of mafia violence in 1991, when there were 1,916 homicides, or 3.4 per 100,000 people. Femicide was also low, at 0.42 women killed per 100,000 in 2022. The statistics come from Istat, Italy's national statistics bureau, and were analysed by the Italian research institution Eurispes. Good News Network's report sets out the figures and the comparison with other EU countries.