Cape Town is the 13th most violent city in the world

Cape Town’s murder rate has improved over the past 12 months, taking it out of the top 10 most violent cities in the world – though it still remains the murder capital of South Africa, and the 13th most violent in the world.

This is according to the latest Top 50 Most Violent Cities ranking compiled by the latest report from the Mexican Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice for 2016.

The report lists the 50 most violent cities by the number of murders per 100,000 people, only considering cities with populations exceeding 300,000, where murder statistics are made available.

As with previous years, the list is dominated by South American cities, where Caracas, in Venezuela maintains its position as the murder capital of the world, with 130.4 murder per 100,000 people.

This is significantly higher than the 120 murders per 100,000 recorded in 2015.

The biggest changes seen on the local ranking is Durban dropping below Nelson Mandela Bay to be the third most violent city in the country, with 34.4 murders per 100,000 people. NMB was the only ranked South African city to see an increase in murders, taking it to 39.2 murders per 100,000 people.

Johannesburg’s murder rate dropped to 29.4 murders per 100,000 people in 2016, taking it out of the top 50, leaving it unranked.

Cape Town’s high murder rate is closely linked to high levels of gang activity in and around the city – while the Eastern Cape’s violence problem is linked to overpopulation and poverty in the affected provinces.

Most violent cities in South Africa (murder rate)

Most violent cities in South Africa (ranking)

Of the 50 cities in the ranking, 19 are located in Brazil (down from 12 in 2015), 8 in Mexico (up from 5), 7 in Venezuela (down from 8), 4 in the United States, 4 in Colombia (up from 3), 3 in South Africa (down from 4), and 2 in Honduras, and 1 in El Salvador, Guatemala and Jamaica.

The overwhelming majority of the 50 most violent cities in the world are in Latin America (42 cities).

These are world’s most violent cities:

Read: The 9 most violent cities in South Africa ranked