The world’s most dangerous cities were found in Latin America, where violence often stems from drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, and gang wars – but one is said to be much worse than the rest
The world’s most dangerous city has been revealed – where almost 110 murders are committed per 100,000 people, according to recent Statista data.
In 2023, Celaya in Mexico topped the list of the world’s most dangerous cities, citing a homicide rate of 109.4 per every 100,000 inhabitants. It’s worth noting that the list does not include countries where war and conflict exist.
In fact, the six cities with the highest murder rates worldwide were all found in Mexico, including in Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez, Ciudad Obregon, Irapuato and Ensenada. Outside of Mexico, St Louis in the United States, Feira de Santana, Brazil, and Cape Town, South Africa, were also seen amongst the top ten.
Most of the cities on the list are found in Latin America where violence often stems from drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, and gang wars. In 2020, Mexico registered over 28,000 homicides related to organised crime. St. Louis, Missouri, in the United States was the city with the second highest homicide rate worldwide, outside of Mexico. St Louis is known to suffer high poverty rates and drug-related crimes.
In December last year, five medical school students were shot to death in an abandoned vehicle in Celaya, Mexico, which has seen a spate of drug cartel violence in recent years.
The students, identified as José Freire, Bryan Amoles, Jesús Orozco and Fabián Orozco, who were brothers, and their cousin, Pedro Mateos, were found by the National Guard on a rural road, where their bodies displayed signs of violence, as well as gunshot wounds.
The Latina University of Mexico confirmed in a statement that the victims attended the school. Speaking of the horror murders, the school said: “The Latina University of Mexico deeply regrets the events and strongly condemns the violence that is exercised against everyone, particularly against our children and young people.”
Police received a call at 6:30pm reporting bodies abandoned in a car next to the University of Guanajuato’s Celaya Campus. It is not yet known if the students were murdered at the scene, or if they were abandoned. Nine people were killed in January 2021 when gunmen opened fire at a wake in Celaya, Guanajuato, with images from the scene showing bodies strewn in the street.
On May 23 2022, eleven people were killed in a mass shooting at a Gala Hotel in Celaya and a nearby bar, where fifteen hooded gunmen from the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel were seen storming in and killing two men and women, before killing a further seven people.
In a seperate incident, a National Guard officer was killed in Celaya in June when a drug cartel set off a car bomb. Other officers were reportedly responding to information about a parked car with dead bodies inside, when the vehicle suddenly exploded as they approached it, sending officers flying.
Authorities blamed the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, which for several years has fought a bloody turf war against the Jalisco New Generation Cartel cartel for control of Guanajuato.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
