As reported in previous years, Latvia's rate of intentional homicides per 100,000 residents is astonishingly high compared to nearly all other EU member states – though officials have insisted in the past this is due in part to different methods of categorizing and reporting homicide.
There were 3 862 police-recorded intentional homicides in the EU in 2022, a 4.4 % increase compared with the previous year. An increase was observed in 14 of the 27 EU countries that provided data, though Latvia was among the countries that instead saw a decrease, from 98 homicides in 2021 to 76 in 2022.
The EU rate of police-recorded intentional homicides per hundred thousand inhabitants in 2022 returned to the 2020 value (0.86), after a low reached in 2021 (0.83).
In Latvia, 2022 saw the rate of police-recorded intentional homicides per hundred thousand inhabitants at 4.05. This is the lowest figure recorded since 2014 and sharply down on 2021's equivalent figure of 5.18.
However, Latvia's rate is still far ahead of the rest of the EU. The second-highest homicide rate was Lithuania on 2.21 – just over half Latvia's rate. In third place is Finland with 1.58 homicides per 100,000 of population.
According to the figures, Latvia continues to have a particular problem with homicides of women by family members or partners: there were 2.19 such homicides per 100,000 population – again, roughly twice second-placed Lithuania's rate of 1.20. The EU average was 0.43.
The equivalent rate for homicides of men by family members or partners in Latvia was 1.50 and the EU average was 0.19.
