Burkina Faso: Intentional homicides (per 100,000 people)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2017, Burkina Faso's intentional homicides (per 100,000 people) rose 0.13 on 2016 (from 1.12 to 1.25).

Across the 14 yearly changes before that (2003 to 2016), the average change was +0.03 and a typical year strayed about 0.2 from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.5 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 0.47 in 2016 and the biggest yearly fall was 0.23 in 2011. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2008 to 2017 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 8% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

Closest to Burkina Faso in the 2017 ranking

• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 1st of 2: 1.31

What this measures

An intentional homicide is defined as an unlawful death inflicted upon a person with the intent to cause death or serious injury.

Limitations: Statistics reported to the United Nations in the context of its various surveys on crime levels and criminal justice trends are incidents of victimization that have been reported to the authorities in any given country. That means that this data is subject to the problems of accuracy of all official crime data. The survey results provide an overview of trends and interrelationships between various parts of the criminal justice system to promote informed decision-making in administration, nationally and internationally. The degree to which different societies apportion the level of culpability to acts resulting in death is also subject to variation.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a aggregate values are computed by unodc. for additional information, please see the unodc website: https://dataunodc.un.org/sites/dataunodc.un.org/files/metadata_intentional_homicide.pdf.

All 16 values

Intentional homicides (per 100,000 people) in nearby economies

• Botswana — 11.37 (2021)
• Cabo Verde — 6.99 (2020)
• Cameroon — 6.76 (2022)
• Eswatini — 12.51 (2021)
• Ghana — 1.83 (2022)
• Kenya — 4.87 (2022)
• Mauritius — 2.27 (2022)
• Namibia — 11.21 (2021)
• Rwanda — 3.61 (2020)
• Seychelles — 7.97 (2022)
• Sierra Leone

More public sector data for Burkina Faso

• Military expenditure (current USD) — 891.56 million (2025)
• Military expenditure (current LCU) — 518.42 billion (2025)
• Military expenditure (% of GDP) — 3.3% (2025)
• Arms imports (SIPRI trend indicator values) — 34 million (2025)
• Military expenditure (% of general government expenditure) — 13.21% (2025)
• Armed forces personnel, total — 11,000 (2020)
• Armed forces personnel (% of total labor force) — 0.12% (2020)
• Net acquisition of financial assets (current LCU) — 137.43 billion (2024)
• Net acquisition of financial assets (% of GDP) — 0.98% (2024)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Burkina Faso's intentional homicides (per 100,000 people)?

1.25 in 2017, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2002?

It is up 97.07% from 0.63 in 2002 (4.63% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 1.25 in 2017 and the lowest 0.47 in 2005.

Is the latest change in intentional homicides (per 100,000 people) unusual for Burkina Faso?

In 2017, Burkina Faso's intentional homicides (per 100,000 people) rose 0.13 on 2016 (from 1.12 to 1.25). Across the 14 yearly changes before that (2003 to 2016), the average change was +0.03 and a typical year strayed about 0.2 from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.5 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

Where does this data come from?

The World Bank's World Development Indicators, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: UNODC Research - Data Portal – Intentional Homicide, UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator VC.IHR.PSRC.P5, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: UNODC Research - Data Portal – Intentional Homicide, UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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