London's homicide rate in perspective

London has a problem with rising violent crime, that is unfortunately a fact. According to Metropolitan Police statistics, there was a 51 percent rise in murders from financial year 16/17 to 17/18. Picking up on the issue, U.S. President Trump said at an NRA rally on Friday that one particular hospital in the UK capital was "like a "war zone" due to knife attack victims. This though, is a UK problem, and while it should absolutely not be played down, it is a problem on a UK scale, too.

Looking at the broader offense category 'homicide', London had a rate per 100,000 population of 1.8 in the twelve months ending March 31 this year (including eight deaths that were due to terrorism). On a U.S. scale though, and when comparing to the biggest cities there, this rate is low - lower than any of the 50 largest in the country, in fact. San Diego is the safest of the major U.S. cities, with a homicide rate of 2.2. New York had a rate of 3.4 in 2017. Looking to the top of the list, Baltimore has an astonishing rate of 55.8.