Italy records the EU's lowest homicide rate, far below its mafia-era peak
Italy had the lowest homicide rate in the European Union in 2023, according to a Eurispes report, a sharp change from the mafia violence of the early 1990s.
Italy had the lowest intentional homicide rate in the European Union in 2023, at 0.57 per 100,000 inhabitants. The EU average that year was 0.91. The figures come from a report by Eurispes, a private Italian research institution, drawing on statistics gathered by the national statistics bureau, Istat.
Young men are far more likely to be both victims and perpetrators of homicide, and Italy has the largest population of older people in the EU. Adjusting for the smaller share of young men gives a rate of 0.4 per 100,000, against an EU average of almost 0.7. On that measure Italy ranks third lowest, behind only Malta and Germany.
That is a cracking result given the country’s recent history. In 1991 Italy recorded 1,916 homicides, or 3.4 per 100,000 people, and Eurispes says more than a third were down to mafia-type organisations. Between 1985 and 1991, homicides rose by 992, and 522 of those were committed by Cosa Nostra, the Camorra and the ‘Ndrangheta, which operate in Sicily, Campania and Calabria respectively.
Homicides then fell by 80% between 1985 and 2024. The main reasons were the state’s wide-ranging response to mafia violence, a lull in fighting between the criminal groups themselves, and their growing reluctance to use extreme violence, knowing the government would react.
Other measures tell a similar story. Femicide has also dropped, though more modestly, and in 2022 Italy recorded 0.42 women killed per 100,000. That was close to the lowest EU figure of 0.39, recorded in Ireland.
The old gap between the richer, industrial north and the poorer, agricultural south has faded as well. The two highest regional rates are in Sardinia and the Aosta Valley. Leave Sardinia out, and the rates in the south, centre and north are almost level.
The picture is not perfect. Hundreds of homicides still happen in Italy each year, and car theft and burglary are higher than in many other European countries.
Why it matters
Homicide rates are among the clearest measures of how safe a society is, and Italy’s fall shows that deeply entrenched organised crime can be pushed back over time by sustained action from the state. The improvement also reaches beyond the mafia, with lower violence against women and a narrowing gap between regions. It is no mean feat, and a welcome boost for a country long associated with criminal violence.
