Name: Homicide rate in Iceland
Creator: RealStats
License: https://realstats.info/about#reuse

2.03

homicide victims per 100,000 people, 2024

High trust, 91 of 100 2 good sources agree closely.

Each source by year: homicide victims per 100,000 people

UNODC
WHO

Recorded change in how a source reports; hover or focus the ring for details.

Show the data as a table

Year	UNODC Data Portal, victims of intentional homicide	WHO Mortality Database, deaths by assault
1980	–	0.88
1981	–	1.3
1982	–	0
1983	–	0.84
1984	–	0.42
1985	–	1.24
1986	–	1.23
1987	–	0.81
1988	–	2
1989	–	0
1990	–	0.39
1991	–	1.94
1992	–	1.15
1993	–	0.38
1994	–	0
1995	–	0
1996	–	0.37
1997	–	1.11
1998	–	0
1999	–	0.72
2000	–	2.13
2001	–	0.7
2002	–	1.74
2003	–	0
2004	–	1.37
2005	1.01	1.01
2006	0	0.33
2007	0.64	0.64
2008	0	0.31
2009	0.31	0.31
2010	0.63	0.63
2011	0.94	0.94
2012	0.31	0.31
2013	0.31	0.93
2014	0.31	0.31
2015	0.91	0.91
2016	0.3	0.3
2017	0.87	0.89
2018	0.85	0.29
2019	0.28	0
2020	1.36	0.56
2021	0.54	0.28
2022	1.05	1.08
2023	1.29	1.05
2024	2.03	2.07

All countries All of Iceland's figures Compare

Iceland among 200 countries

110 have a higher figure and 88 a lower one. Definitions differ between countries, and their years run from 2007 to 2024.

Iceland 2.03

Lowest: American Samoa, 0Highest: Haiti, 64.34

What this number counts

Counts: Intentional homicide victims per 100,000 people
Where: Iceland
When: 2024 (one year, not an average)

The UNODC figure (2024). When sources differ, we show the middle one, with better sources counting more.

Where the number comes from (2 sources)

Source	Figure and year	Definition	Quality	Counts for
UNODC Data Portal, victims of intentional homicideUnited Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) · Police and justice recordsRetrieved 2026-10-25 · Data (Excel file)	2.032024	Victims of intentional homicide (ICCS 0101: unlawful death inflicted with intent to cause death or serious injury), total for both sexes and all ages, rate per 100,000 from UNODC's own population figures (UN World Population Prospects 2024). UNODC source code for this value: CTS/SDG. Year rule: the latest year both UNODC and WHO have is 2024, which is 2018 or later, so both lines use it. Raw file: data_cts_intentional_homicide.xlsx (UNODC, updated 12 July 2026).	5 of 5 checks Yes: Method and definitions published. UNODC publishes the ICCS definition and a metadata note for the dataset. Yes: Official statistics or peer-reviewed. National figures submitted by governments through the UN crime trends survey (UN-CTS) or official channels. Yes: Full count or representative sample. A count of all victims recorded by the authorities, not a sample. Yes: Raw data downloadable. The whole dataset is a free Excel download from the UNODC data portal. Yes: No known break or quality problem. UNODC marks no adjustment or estimate for this value.	56%
WHO Mortality Database, deaths by assaultWorld Health Organization (WHO) · Death and health registersRetrieved 2026-10-25	2.072024	Registered deaths with underlying cause assault, ICD-10 X85-Y09, all ages and both sexes, divided by the population in WHO's population file for the same year. Codes used: ICD-10 3- and 4-character codes X85-Y09. Countries that report the condensed Tabulation List 1 contribute its assault item (1102), which covers the same X85-Y09 range; years where a country reports only a total for all external causes have no value. National rows only, no sub-national or partial-coverage rows. Year rule: the latest year both UNODC and WHO have is 2024, which is 2018 or later, so both lines use it. The yearly series also covers years before this country's WHO data switched to ICD-10; those years count ICD-9 Basic Tabulation List item B55 (E960-E969, homicide and injury purposely inflicted by other persons) up to 1995; ICD-8 List A item A148 (E960-E978, homicide and injury purposely inflicted by other persons, which also includes deaths from legal intervention) up to 1980, with population from the same sources. Each switch is listed under reporting changes. Raw files: morticd10_part1-6.zip (8 assault deaths) and mort_pop.zip. WHO publishes the data as the country sent them and does not adjust for incomplete registration. The same file records 9 deaths of undetermined intent (Y10-Y34) for this year; some of these may be homicides. Series years before ICD-10: morticd09.zip, morticd08.zip (WHO, retrieved 2026-10-27).	4 of 5 checks Yes: Method and definitions published. WHO publishes the file layout, ICD-10 code lists and data notes in its documentation. Yes: Official statistics or peer-reviewed. Official cause-of-death statistics sent to WHO by national authorities. Yes: Full count or representative sample. Civil registration counts every registered, medically certified death, not a sample. Yes: Raw data downloadable. Raw death and population files are free downloads. No: No known break or quality problem. More deaths are coded as undetermined intent (Y10-Y34: 9) than as assault (8) for this year, so the assault count is likely too low.	44%

Better and more direct sources count for more. A source that only copies another does not count.

UNODC 56%WHO 44%

UNODC56%
WHO44%

How the trust score was worked out

Quality36.4 / 40: How well the sources are made
Agreement28.8 / 30: How close the sources are to each other
Independence16 / 20: How many separate ways the number was measured
Freshness10 / 10: How recent the newest data is

How the score works

Who reports it, and since when

Which kinds of source measure this number, which years each one published, and where the reporting stops or has holes.

Police and justice records · 1Death and health registers · 1

No source of these kinds: independent count.

WHO, 1981: WHO's data for this country switch from ICD-8 to ICD-9 in 1981: deaths by assault are ICD-9 Basic Tabulation List item B55 (E960-E969, homicide and injury purposely inflicted by other persons) from 1981, and ICD-8 List A item A148 (E960-E978, homicide and injury purposely inflicted by other persons, which also includes deaths from legal intervention) up to 1980. source
WHO, 1996: WHO's data for this country switch from ICD-9 to ICD-10 in 1996: deaths by assault are ICD-10 codes X85-Y09 (assault) from 1996, and ICD-9 Basic Tabulation List item B55 (E960-E969, homicide and injury purposely inflicted by other persons) up to 1995. source

Years each source has a figure here

'00'05'10'15'20'24UNODCWHO

figure no figure here, inside its range no later figure recorded change

Why the numbers differ

They come from two separate systems: UNODC compiles police and criminal justice records, while the WHO Mortality Database counts death certificates with the cause coded as assault (ICD-10 X85-Y09).
Older UN crime survey series included attempted homicides for some countries, so older police figures can run above death records.
Death registration is not equally complete everywhere. Where many deaths go unregistered, or many violent deaths are coded as "undetermined intent", the WHO count falls below the police count.
Research comparing UN and WHO homicide data (Andersson and Kazemian) found that the two differ in level but show similar patterns. (source, retrieved 2026-10-25)

Common mistakes

Numbeo's "Crime Index" is not a crime rate. Numbeo builds it from surveys answered by its website visitors about how safe they feel, not from police or death records. (source, retrieved 2026-10-25)

Download, cite and report an error

From the table What is the homicide rate in each country? Updated 2026-10-27.

Download every value in this table (CSV)

Cite as: RealStats, “Homicide rate in Iceland”, updated 2026-10-27, with the original sources listed on the page.

Report an error on this page

Homicide rate in Iceland

Iceland among 200 countries

More for Iceland on murder and homicide