"With 5.1 assault-related deaths per 100 000 inhabitants, Latvia registered the highest rate among the EU Member States in 2015," said Eurostat.
The two other Baltic Member States, Lithuania (4.1 deaths due to assault per 100 000 inhabitants) and Estonia (3.6) also recorded a relatively high rate of death due to assaults.
At the opposite end of the scale, in 2015 the lowest rates of deaths due to assault were recorded in the United Kingdom (0.1), Ireland, France and Germany (all 0.5).
At EU level, the assault death rate stood on average at 0.7 deaths per 100 000 inhabitants in 2015.
From the 5.2 million deaths reported in the European Union (EU) in 2015, 3 600 were due to assault. The majority of victims were men (64%).
The good news is that the Europe-wide assault-related death rate is falling. In 2002, the first year for which data are available, the rate stood at 1.3 per 100 000 persons and has steadily decreased since then.
Latvia too has made progress in reducing the number of homicides. In 2002 the number of deaths by assault was 12 per 100,000 and even in the period 2014-2015 it fell from 6.95 to 5.14.
