SDMX Metadata Concepts

Indicator: 16.1.1

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0.a. Goal

Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

0.b. Target

Target 16.1: Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere

0.c. Indicator

Indicator 16.1.1: Number of victims of intentional homicide per 100,000 population, by sex and age

0.d. Series

Applies to all series

0.e. Metadata update

2023-03-31

0.g. International organisations(s) responsible for global monitoring

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), World Health Organization (WHO)

1.a. Organisation

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

2.a. Definition and concepts

Definition:

The indicator is defined as the total count of victims of intentional homicide divided by the total population, expressed per 100,000 population.

Intentional homicide is defined as the unlawful death inflicted upon a person with the intent to cause death or serious injury (Source: International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes, ICCS 2015); population refers to total resident population in a given country in a given year.

Concepts:

The International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS) is the source of the definition of intentional homicide.

Intentional homicide (ICCS 0101): Unlawful death inflicted upon a person with the intent to cause death or serious injury.

The statistical definition contains three elements that characterize the killing of a person as “intentional homicide”:

1. The killing of a person by another person (objective element);

2. The intent of the perpetrator to kill or seriously injure the victim (subjective element);

3. The unlawfulness of the killing, which means that the law considers the perpetrator liable for the unlawful death (legal element).

This definition states that, for statistical purposes, all killings corresponding to the three criteria above should be considered as intentional homicides, irrespective of definitions provided by national legislations or practices.

In the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), deaths coded with ICD-10 codes X85-Y09 (injuries inflicted by another person with intent to injure or kill) and ICD-10 code Y87.1 (sequelae of assault), or ICD-11 codes PD50-PF2Z and PJ20-PJ2Z, generally correspond to the definition of intentional homicide discussed above.

2.b. Unit of measure

Number of homicide deaths per 100,000 population

2.c. Classifications

International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes, ICCS 2015

International Classification of Diseases

3.a. Data sources

Two separate sources exist at country level: a) criminal justice system; b) civil registration/vital statistics. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) collects and publishes data from criminal justice systems through its annual data collection mandated by the UN General Assembly (UN Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems, UN-CTS); the World Health Organization (WHO) collects and publishes death certificate data (civil registration/vital statistics). The data collection through the UN-CTS is facilitated by a network of over 140 national Focal Points appointed by responsible authorities.

3.b. Data collection method

At international level, data on intentional homicides are routinely collected by UNODC through the annual UN Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (UN-CTS) data collection. As requested by the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, over 140 Member States have already appointed a UN-CTS national focal point that delivers UN-CTS data to UNODC. In most cases these focal points are national institutions responsible for data production in the area of crime and criminal justice (National Statistical Offices, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice, etc.). For countries that have not appointed a focal point, the request for data is sent to permanent missions in Vienna. When a country does not report to UNODC, other official sources such as authoritative websites, publications, or other forms of communication are used. Homicide estimates from WHO are used when no other source on homicide is available. Once consolidated, data are shared to countries to check their accuracy.

When data and related metadata are available, some adjustments are made to data in order to assure compliance with the definition of intentional homicide as provided by the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS). National data on types of killings that are considered as intentional homicide by the ICCS, while being classified under a different crime at country level, are added to national figures of intentional homicide. This can be done only when detailed data on such types of killings (e.g. serious assault leading to death, honor killing, etc.) are available.

As for UNODC data dissemination policy, data for SDG monitoring are sent to countries for consultation prior to publication.

3.c. Data collection calendar

III-IV quarter

3.d. Data release calendar

II quarter year n+1 (data for year n-1). For instance, data for year of data 2022 are collected in III-IV quarter 2023 and released in II quarter 2024.

3.e. Data providers

Data on intentional homicide are sent to UNODC by member states, usually through national UN Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (UN-CTS) Focal Points, which in most cases are national institutions responsible for data production in the area of crime and criminal justice (National Statistical Offices, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice, etc.). The primary source on intentional homicide is usually an institution of the criminal justice system (Police, Ministry of Interior, general Prosecutor Office, etc.). Data produced by public health/civil registration system are sent to WHO through national statistics offices and/or ministries of health.

3.f. Data compilers

Name:

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), World Health Organization (WHO)

Description:

At international level, data on intentional homicides are routinely collected and disseminated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) through the annual UN Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (UN-CTS) data collection. UNODC partners with regional organizations in the collection and dissemination of homicide data, respectively with Eurostat in Europe and with the Organisation of American States in the Americas. WHO collects data on intentional homicide in the framework of regular data collection on causes of death. In this context, data on deaths by assault are considered as intentional homicides.

3.g. Institutional mandate

The United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (UN-CTS) was introduced through the General Assembly Resolution A/RES/3021(XXVII) in 1972. The Economic and Social Council, in its resolution 1984/48 of 25 May 1984, requested that the Secretary-General maintain and develop the United Nations crime-related database by continuing to conduct surveys of crime trends and the operations of criminal justice systems.

According to Article 64 of its constitution, WHO is mandated to request each Member State to provide statistics on mortality. In support of this, the first World Health Assembly endorsed the sixth revision of the International List of Causes of Death, now called the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries and Causes of death (ICD). The WHO Nomenclature Regulations of 1967 affirms the importance of compiling and publishing statistics of mortality and morbidity in comparable form. Member States are obliged to provide WHO with the statistics in accordance with the Regulations.

4.a. Rationale

This indicator is widely used at national and international level to measure the most extreme form of violent crime and it also provides a direct indication of lack of security. Security from violence is a pre-requisite for individuals to enjoy a safe and active life and for societies and economies to develop freely. Intentional homicides occur in all countries of the world and this indicator has a global applicability.

Monitoring intentional homicides is necessary to better assess their causes, drivers and consequences and, in the longer term, to develop effective preventive measures. If data are properly disaggregated (as suggested in the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes), the indicator can identify the different type of violence associated with homicide: inter-personal (including partner and family-related violence), crime (including organized crime and other forms of criminal activities) and socio-political (including terrorism, hate crime).

4.b. Comment and limitations

The International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS) provides important clarifications on the definition of intentional homicide. In particular, it states that the following killings are included in the count of homicide:

- Murder

- Honour killing

- Serious assault leading to death

- Death as a result of terrorist activities

- Dowry-related killings

- Femicide

- Infanticide

- Voluntary manslaughter

- Extrajudicial killings

- Killings caused by excessive force by law enforcement/state officials

Furthermore, the ICCS Briefing Note on Unlawful killings in conflict situations provides indications on how to distinguish between intentional homicides, killings directly related to war/conflict and other killings that amount to war crimes.

The complete recording of homicide deaths in death-registration systems requires good linkages with coronial and police systems, but can be impeded by delays in determining intent of injury deaths. Less than one half of WHO Member States have well-functioning death-registration systems that record causes of death.

The fact that homicide data are typically produced by two separate and independent sources at national level (criminal justice and public health) represents a specific asset of this indicator, as the comparison of the two sources is a tool to assess accuracy of national data. Usually, for countries where data from both sources exist, a good level of matching between the sources is recorded (see UNODC Global Study on Homicide, 2013).

4.c. Method of computation

The indicator is calculated as the total number of victims of intentional homicide recorded in a given year divided by the total resident population in the same year, multiplied by 100,000.

R a t e = 100 , 000 * V i c t i m s P o p u l a t i o n

For the rate by sex, the number of victims of that sex should be divided by the population of the same sex.

In several countries, two separate sets of data on intentional homicide are produced, respectively from criminal justice and public health/civil registration systems. When existing, figures from both data sources are reported. Population data are derived from annual estimates produced by the UN Population Division.

In cases where data on intentional homicide victims are not available, the number of intentional homicide offences, that is the number of incidents involving one or more victims recorded by the police, can be used as a proxy.

4.d. Validation

Following the submission of the CTS questionnaire, UNODC checks for consistency and coherence with other data sources. Member States which are also part of the European Union or the European Free Trade Association, or candidate or potential candidate to the European Union are sending their response to the UN-CTS to Eurostat for validation. The Organization for American States is also reviewing the responses of its Member States. All data submitted by Member States through other means or taken from other sources are added to the dataset after review and validation by Member States.

4.f. Treatment of missing values (i) at country level and (ii) at regional level

• At country level

When national data on victims of intentional homicide are not available from neither criminal justice nor from public health/civil registration, the number of intentional homicide offences is considered. If no data are available, missing values are left blank.

• At regional and global levels

See section 4.g. Regional aggregations for more information.

4.g. Regional aggregations

The method used for estimating the number of victims of intentional homicides at the global and regional level aims to make the best possible use of available data. For each regional aggregate, the number of victims of intentional homicides should correspond to the sum of all national data of such killings in the region, in each year. However, for many countries, data on intentional homicides are not available, or data are available only for some years. As a result, the sample of countries with available data is different for each year. If left unaddressed, this issue would result in inconsistencies, as regional aggregates would be drawn from a different set of countries each year.

Imputations for intentional homicides victims are performed on the country-level rate of intentional homicide victims per 100,000 population. If a country has just one available data point since the year 2000, all missing values are set equal to this single available data point. This approach therefore accounts for population growth over time and does not mean that the series is constant in absolute terms. If a country has two to eight available data points, the missing values between two data points are estimated by linear interpolation, and if there are missing values that are temporally before (or after) the earliest (or latest) available data point, the values at the beginning (or end) of the series are filled with the earliest (or latest) available data point. If a country has more than eight available data points in the respective time series, the missing values between two data points are estimated by linear interpolation, and if there are missing values that are temporally before (or after) the earliest (or latest) available data point, the values at the end of the time series are imputed using an exponential smoothing approach (for more information, see this page). Finally, the regional rate is applied to countries without any data point

Once the series have been imputed at the national level, they are aggregated at the regional level. Regional homicide totals are calculated for each year by multiplying the regional homicide rate per 100,000 population with the total population of the respective region (divided by 100,000). The regions are the ones from the United Nations “Standard Country or Area Codes for Statistical Use”. Each country or area is included in one region only.

Finally, regional estimates are aggregated to compute the global number of intentional homicides.

4.h. Methods and guidance available to countries for the compilation of the data at the national level

The International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS) and its briefing note on unlawful killings in conflict situations include information on the definition and disaggregations.

The United Nations Survey of Crime Trends an the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (UN-CTS) includes further information on counting rules used for homicide victims.

4.i. Quality management

See section 4.d Validation

4.j. Quality assurance

See section 4.d Validation

4.k. Quality assessment

UNODC developed a quality assessment score for homicide data at country level. Based on a set of standard quality dimensions for statistical data, a quality assessment framework was developed to evaluate global homicide data based on five main criteria:

  1. Comparability
  2. Completeness
  3. Timeliness
  4. Internal Consistency
  5. External Consistency

For each of these criteria quality indicators are defined and a qualitative score is computed per country (on a scale of 0-100), which is then converted to a qualitative score in three categories (good; fair; low). A total score encompasses all five criteria.

More information on the quality assessment score can be found in the methodological annex of the 2019 Global Study on Homicide. The next update data quality assessment will be presented in the 2023 Global Study on Homicide.

5. Data availability and disaggregation

Data availability:

Considering data collected by both UNODC and WHO, national data on homicide are available for most Member States. However, data availability is lower in Africa, Asia and the Pacific and Western Asia than in the Americas and Europe. Furthermore, data availability for crucial disaggregations (by sex, or victim-perpetrator relationship) is more limited than for total homicide counts.

Time series:

1990-present day

Disaggregation:

Recommended disaggregation for this indicator are:

- sex and age of the victim and the perpetrator (suspected offender)

- relationship between victim and perpetrator (intimate partner, other family member, acquaintance, etc.)

- means of perpetration (firearm, sharp object, etc.)

- situational context/motivation (organized crime, inter-personal violence, etc.)

Tables III, IV and V of the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes contains more information on these disaggregations, including definitions for each of the categories.

6. Comparability/deviation from international standards

Sources of discrepancies:

Discrepancies might exist between country produced and internationally reported counts of intentional homicides as national data might refer to national definition of intentional homicide while data reported by UNODC aim to comply with the definition provided by the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS) (approved in 2015 by Member States in the UN Statistical Commission and the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice). The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) makes special efforts to count all killings falling under the ICCS definition of intentional homicide, while national data may still be compiled according to national legal systems rather than the statistical classification. The gradual implementation of ICCS by countries should improve quality and consistency of national and international data.

Intentional homicide rates may also differ due to the use of different population figures.

7. References and Documentation

URL:

www.unodc.org

References:

UNODC Homicide Database (https://dataunodc.org/), UNODC, Global Study on Homicide 2019; WHO-UNDP-UNODC, Global Status Report on Violence Prevention 2014; UNODC, International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes - ICCS, 2015