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Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty

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Newsletter 142 - Seventeen-year provincial murder rate trends

The murder rate in the country has fallen by over 50% in the last 17 years. All provinces registered significant declines. Limpopo maintained its position as having the lowest murder rate while Gauteng improved from having the second worst murder rate to having the fourth best rate.

The murder rate has declined significantly across all provinces since 1994, according to statistics released by the South African Police Service. Overall, the country’s murder rate has dropped to less than half what it was, from 67 to 32 per 100 000 of the population.

The largest decrease in the murder rate up to the year ending March 2011 occurred in Gauteng, followed by KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Cape. During this period, the Eastern Cape replaced KwaZulu-Natal as the province with the highest murder rate.
In 2010/11 the rate of murder in Gauteng fell below the national average. This moved it from the province with the second worst murder rate in 1994 to the one with the fourth best rate in the latest year.

Murder, 1994/95-2010/11
 
1994/95
2010/11
Province
Actual numbers
Rate per 100 000
Actual numbers
Rate per 100 000
Eastern Cape
4 600
77
3 187
47
Free State
1 286
51
963
34
Gauteng
5 852
83
3 257
29
KwaZulu-Natal
7 686
95
3 749
35
Limpopo
1 023
22
665
12
Mpumalanga
999
38
722
20
North West
1 216
38
744
23
Northern Cape
571
70
342
31
Western Cape
2 732
72
2 311
44
South Africa
25 965
67
15 940
32

 
-          Kerwin Lebone
by Lerato Moloi — last modified 2011-09-27 15:31
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