Public security


Top 10 Deadliest European Cities

When compared to U.S. data, European cities can be considered much safer in terms of murder rates. Europe does not contain any of the top 50 cities in the world with the highest murder rate. The "deadliest” city in Europe has less than one tenth of the homicides per 100,000 than the U.S. city with the highest homicide rate.

Here are the 10 European cities with the highest homicide rates, according to a report UN Office on Drugs and Crime released in 2019:

3. Klaipeda, Lithuania

Lithuania's cities hold the top three slots of the highest murder rates in Europe. Klaipeda had a murder rate of 3.9 per 100,000 in 2017. That same year, Lithuania's crime rate shot up after the country tightened laws against drunk driving. In 2017 this city had a population of 172,272.

2. Vilnius, Lithuania

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania and its largest city. Most crimes are reported in Old Town Vilnius, due to the confluence of tourists there, but pickpocketing and thefts of unattended belongings are the most common threat. Vilnius also had a murder rate of 3.9 per 100,000 in 2017. It had a population of about 697,691 that same year.


1. Kaunas, Lithuania

Kaunas is the deadliest city in Europe with a significantly higher murder rate of 5.4 per 100,000 as of 2017. Kaunas is the second largest city in Lithuania, with a population of about 383,764 that same year. This is less than one tenth of the deadliest U.S. city's murder rate: St. Louis, Mo., had a murder rate of 60.9 per 100,000 in 2018.