How has the number of homicides in England and Wales changed since 1960?

The Home Office Homicide Index recorded 522 offences as homicide in England and Wales in the year ending March 2025 (8.58 per million people), against 354 (7.3 per million) in 1967, the first year with a rate; offences initially recorded as homicide numbered 282 in 1960 and 524 in the year ending March 2025; the series peak, 17.91 per million in the year ending March 2003, includes 173 victims of Harold Shipman; WHO death registrations coded as assault give 3.77 per million for 2024.

Choose a figure

Homicide rate in England and Wales, year ending March 2025

8.58

homicide victims per million people, 2025

Low trust, 58 of 100 The sources disagree: their figures run from 3.77 to 8.58.

Each source by year: homicide victims per million people

Homicide Index
WHO deaths

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

Show the data as a table

Year	ONS, Homicide in England and Wales: appendix tables, year ending March 2025, Table 1	WHO Mortality Database, deaths by assault, United Kingdom: England and Wales (code 4310)
1960	–	5.07
1961	–	5.52
1962	–	5.59
1963	–	5.42
1964	–	5.57
1965	–	5.78
1966	–	6.9
1967	7.3	6.89
1968	7.4	7.08
1969	6.8	6.55
1970	7	7.14
1971	8.3	8.27
1972	8.3	7.83
1973	8	9.11
1974	10.7	9.82
1975	9	9.92
1976	9.9	10.99
1977	8.5	9.14
1978	9.6	12.46
1979	11.1	10.64
1980	11.1	8.12
1981	10.1	3.53
1982	11.2	6.95
1983	9.7	6.4
1984	10.8	6.85
1985	10.7	6.89
1986	11.2	6.79
1987	11.9	7.07
1988	10.9	6.01
1989	10.3	5.56
1990	10.9	5.07
1991	12.3	5.34
1992	11.4	5.62
1993	11.1	10.36
1994	12.4	7.23
1995	13	6.85
1996	11.4	6.04
1997	11.8	5.57
1998	11.68	5.44
1999	12.35	5.6
2000	12.86	7.18
2001	14.58	2.35
2002	15.15	2.26
2003	17.91	2.69
2004	14.62	2.49
2005	14.62	2.55
2006	13.23	2.12
2007	13.18	2.22
2008	13.44	1.51
2009	11.62	1.57
2010	10.72	1.29
2011	11.33	1.65
2012	9.35	1.04
2013	9.6	1.19
2014	9.12	1.08
2015	8.77	1.07
2016	9.29	0.94
2017	11.8	4.17
2018	11.89	5.01
2019	10.86	3.97
2020	11.4	2.43
2021	9.34	3.3
2022	11.26	2.99
2023	9.64	2.27
2024	9.3	3.77
2025	8.58	–

What this number counts

Counts: Offences currently recorded as homicide (murder, manslaughter, infanticide), one per victim, per million residents
Where: England and Wales
When: Year ending March 2025; series from 1967 (calendar years to 1997, then financial years). Financial years (April to March) are stored under the year they end in. (one year, not an average)

The Homicide Index figure (2025). 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
ONS, Homicide in England and Wales: appendix tables, year ending March 2025, Table 1Office for National Statistics (Home Office Homicide Index) · Police and justice recordsRetrieved 2026-10-26 · Data (Excel file)	8.582025	ONS rate from Table 1: 522 offences currently recorded as homicide. ONS note 5: Population statistics for YE March 2025 are based on mid-2023 estimates, previous years are based on the corresponding population estimates.	4 of 5 checks Yes: Method and definitions published. ONS notes and the article define homicide, the Homicide Index and how offences are counted. Yes: Official statistics or peer-reviewed. Accredited official statistics (ONS, from the Home Office Homicide Index). Yes: Full count or representative sample. Every offence recorded as homicide by the police in England and Wales, not a sample. Yes: Raw data downloadable. Appendix tables are downloadable as xlsx; record-level data are not public. No: No known break or quality problem. Calendar years to 1997, financial years after; counted by the year police recorded the offence, so Shipman (2002/03) and Hillsborough (2016/17) victims fall in one year each.	67%
WHO Mortality Database, deaths by assault, United Kingdom: England and Wales (code 4310)World Health Organization (WHO) · Death and health registersRetrieved 2026-10-27	3.772024	Deaths registered in 2024 whose underlying cause is assault (233), per million of WHO's population for England and Wales. Calendar year of registration. ICD-7 list 07A item A149 (1960-1967), ICD-8 list 08A item A148 (1968-1978), ICD-9 list 09B item B55 (1979-2000), ICD-10 X85-Y09 (2001 on), by year of registration. Codes Y33.9 and U50.9, which hold deaths awaiting an adjourned inquest, are not added: this page does not re-code deaths. The file has 55 assault deaths for 2016 and 245 for 2017 and gives no reason for the step. Death registrations are supplied to WHO by ONS. ICD-7/8/9 files fetched 2026-10-27, ICD-10 files and population 2026-10-25.	4 of 5 checks Yes: Method and definitions published. WHO documents its files and cause lists; ONS publishes its coding rules. Yes: Official statistics or peer-reviewed. Official death registration statistics from ONS, held by WHO. Yes: Full count or representative sample. All deaths registered in England and Wales, not a sample. Yes: Raw data downloadable. Raw yearly files by cause, sex and age are downloadable from WHO. No: No known break or quality problem. ONS says assault codes alone under-estimate deaths from assault; ICD revisions in 1968, 1979 and 2001; coroners' details missing in 1981.	33%

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

Homicide Index 67%WHO deaths 33%

Homicide Index67%
WHO deaths33%

How the trust score was worked out

Quality32 / 40: How well the sources are made
Agreement0 / 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.

Homicide Index, 1967: Table 1 gives offences currently recorded as homicide, and the rate per million, from 1967; for 1960 to 1966 it gives only offences initially recorded as homicide ("[x] indicates that numbers are unavailable"). source
Homicide Index, 1977: ONS dates the Homicide Index's electronic records from 1977 ("since electronic records began in 1977"). source
Homicide Index, 1998: Table 1 switches from calendar years (to January-December 1997) to financial years (from April 1997-March 1998); 1997 appears in both forms. Financial years (April to March) are stored under the year they end in. source
Homicide Index, 1987: ONS note 6: Year ending December 1987 includes 15 victims of Michael Ryan. source
Homicide Index, 2001: ONS note 7: Year ending March 2001 includes 58 Chinese nationals who suffocated in a lorry on the way into the UK. source
Homicide Index, 2003: ONS note 8: Year ending March 2003 includes 173 victims of Dr Harold Shipman. source
Homicide Index, 2004: ONS note 9: Year ending March 2004 includes 20 cockle pickers who drowned in Morecambe Bay. source
Homicide Index, 2006: ONS note 10: Year ending March 2006 includes 52 victims of the 7 July London bombings. source
Homicide Index, 2011: ONS note 11: Year ending March 2011 includes 12 victims of the Derrick Bird shooting. source
Homicide Index, 2017: ONS note 12: Year ending March 2017 includes 96 victims of Hillsborough and four victims of the Westminster Bridge attack. source
Homicide Index, 2018: ONS note 13: Year ending March 2018 includes 31 victims of the terrorist attacks that involved multiple victims, including the Manchester Arena bombing, and the London Bridge attack and 11 victims of the Shoreham air crash. source
Homicide Index, 2020: ONS note 14: Year ending March 2020 includes 39 human trafficking victims who were found dead in a lorry in Essex. source
Homicide Index, 2003: ONS: "the 173 homicides attributed to Doctor Harold Shipman as a result of Dame Janet Smith's inquiry took place over a long period of time but were all recorded by the police during year ending (YE) March 2003." source
Homicide Index, 2025: ONS note 4: Home Office statisticians undertake regular data quality exercises with police forces on suspect information, cancelled crimes and court outcomes for historical data. Totals shown in this table will not match previously published figures. source
WHO deaths, 1968: WHO data for England and Wales switch from ICD-7 (list 07A, item A149) to ICD-8 (list 08A, item A148, which also includes legal intervention). source
WHO deaths, 1979: Switch to ICD-9 (list 09B, item B55: homicide and injury purposely inflicted by other persons, E960-E969). source
WHO deaths, 1981: ONS: "Industrial action taken by registration officers affected the quality of information about deaths from injury and poisoning. Details normally supplied by coroners were not available ... Categories such as 'transport accidents' and 'homicide' were significantly understated." source
WHO deaths, 1993: ONS: "Changes to the rules for selecting and coding cause of death brought England and Wales into line with international practice in 1993"; automated cause coding was introduced the same year. source
WHO deaths, 2001: Switch to ICD-10 (codes X85-Y09, assault). source

Years each source has a figure here

'01'05'10'15'20'25Homicide IndexWHO deaths

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

Homicides recorded in England and Wales, year ending March 2025

522

homicide offences currently recorded (one per victim), 2025

Low trust, 58 of 100 The sources disagree: their figures run from 233 to 522.

Each source by year: homicide offences currently recorded (one per victim)

Homicide Index
WHO deaths

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

Show the data as a table

Year	ONS, Homicide in England and Wales: appendix tables, year ending March 2025, Table 1	WHO Mortality Database, deaths by assault, United Kingdom: England and Wales (code 4310)
1960	–	232
1961	–	255
1962	–	261
1963	–	255
1964	–	264
1965	–	276
1966	–	331
1967	354	333
1968	360	344
1969	332	320
1970	339	350
1971	407	404
1972	409	384
1973	391	448
1974	526	483
1975	443	488
1976	488	540
1977	413	449
1978	468	612
1979	547	523
1980	535	400
1981	501	175
1982	557	345
1983	482	318
1984	537	341
1985	536	344
1986	563	340
1987	600	355
1988	547	303
1989	521	281
1990	554	257
1991	622	273
1992	581	288
1993	566	533
1994	633	373
1995	662	355
1996	586	314
1997	607	291
1998	602	285
1999	639	295
2000	668	380
2001	760	123
2002	793	119
2003	942	142
2004	773	132
2005	777	136
2006	709	114
2007	711	120
2008	731	82
2009	637	86
2010	592	71
2011	631	92
2012	525	59
2013	543	68
2014	520	62
2015	504	62
2016	538	55
2017	689	245
2018	698	296
2019	641	236
2020	676	145
2021	555	197
2022	672	180
2023	581	138
2024	566	233
2025	522	–

What this number counts

Counts: Offences currently recorded as homicide, one per victim (after reclassification by police or courts)
Where: England and Wales
When: Year ending March 2025; series from 1967. Financial years (April to March) are stored under the year they end in. (one year, not an average)

The Homicide Index figure (2025). 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
ONS, Homicide in England and Wales: appendix tables, year ending March 2025, Table 1Office for National Statistics (Home Office Homicide Index) · Police and justice recordsRetrieved 2026-10-26 · Data (Excel file)	5222025	Table 1, offences currently recorded as homicide as at 5 December 2025 (524 initially recorded, 2 no longer recorded as homicide).	4 of 5 checks Yes: Method and definitions published. ONS notes and the article define homicide, the Homicide Index and how offences are counted. Yes: Official statistics or peer-reviewed. Accredited official statistics (ONS, from the Home Office Homicide Index). Yes: Full count or representative sample. Every offence recorded as homicide by the police in England and Wales, not a sample. Yes: Raw data downloadable. Appendix tables are downloadable as xlsx; record-level data are not public. No: No known break or quality problem. Calendar years to 1997, financial years after; counted by the year police recorded the offence, so Shipman (2002/03) and Hillsborough (2016/17) victims fall in one year each.	67%
WHO Mortality Database, deaths by assault, United Kingdom: England and Wales (code 4310)World Health Organization (WHO) · Death and health registersRetrieved 2026-10-27	2332024	Deaths registered in 2024 whose underlying cause is assault. ICD-7 list 07A item A149 (1960-1967), ICD-8 list 08A item A148 (1968-1978), ICD-9 list 09B item B55 (1979-2000), ICD-10 X85-Y09 (2001 on), by year of registration. Codes Y33.9 and U50.9, which hold deaths awaiting an adjourned inquest, are not added: this page does not re-code deaths. The file has 55 assault deaths for 2016 and 245 for 2017 and gives no reason for the step. Death registrations are supplied to WHO by ONS. ICD-7/8/9 files fetched 2026-10-27, ICD-10 files and population 2026-10-25.	4 of 5 checks Yes: Method and definitions published. WHO documents its files and cause lists; ONS publishes its coding rules. Yes: Official statistics or peer-reviewed. Official death registration statistics from ONS, held by WHO. Yes: Full count or representative sample. All deaths registered in England and Wales, not a sample. Yes: Raw data downloadable. Raw yearly files by cause, sex and age are downloadable from WHO. No: No known break or quality problem. ONS says assault codes alone under-estimate deaths from assault; ICD revisions in 1968, 1979 and 2001; coroners' details missing in 1981.	33%

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

Homicide Index 67%WHO deaths 33%

Homicide Index67%
WHO deaths33%

How the trust score was worked out

Quality32 / 40: How well the sources are made
Agreement0 / 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.

Homicide Index, 1967: Table 1 gives offences currently recorded as homicide, and the rate per million, from 1967; for 1960 to 1966 it gives only offences initially recorded as homicide ("[x] indicates that numbers are unavailable"). source
Homicide Index, 1977: ONS dates the Homicide Index's electronic records from 1977 ("since electronic records began in 1977"). source
Homicide Index, 1998: Table 1 switches from calendar years (to January-December 1997) to financial years (from April 1997-March 1998); 1997 appears in both forms. Financial years (April to March) are stored under the year they end in. source
Homicide Index, 1987: ONS note 6: Year ending December 1987 includes 15 victims of Michael Ryan. source
Homicide Index, 2001: ONS note 7: Year ending March 2001 includes 58 Chinese nationals who suffocated in a lorry on the way into the UK. source
Homicide Index, 2003: ONS note 8: Year ending March 2003 includes 173 victims of Dr Harold Shipman. source
Homicide Index, 2004: ONS note 9: Year ending March 2004 includes 20 cockle pickers who drowned in Morecambe Bay. source
Homicide Index, 2006: ONS note 10: Year ending March 2006 includes 52 victims of the 7 July London bombings. source
Homicide Index, 2011: ONS note 11: Year ending March 2011 includes 12 victims of the Derrick Bird shooting. source
Homicide Index, 2017: ONS note 12: Year ending March 2017 includes 96 victims of Hillsborough and four victims of the Westminster Bridge attack. source
Homicide Index, 2018: ONS note 13: Year ending March 2018 includes 31 victims of the terrorist attacks that involved multiple victims, including the Manchester Arena bombing, and the London Bridge attack and 11 victims of the Shoreham air crash. source
Homicide Index, 2020: ONS note 14: Year ending March 2020 includes 39 human trafficking victims who were found dead in a lorry in Essex. source
Homicide Index, 2003: ONS: "the 173 homicides attributed to Doctor Harold Shipman as a result of Dame Janet Smith's inquiry took place over a long period of time but were all recorded by the police during year ending (YE) March 2003." source
Homicide Index, 2025: ONS note 4: Home Office statisticians undertake regular data quality exercises with police forces on suspect information, cancelled crimes and court outcomes for historical data. Totals shown in this table will not match previously published figures. source
WHO deaths, 1968: WHO data for England and Wales switch from ICD-7 (list 07A, item A149) to ICD-8 (list 08A, item A148, which also includes legal intervention). source
WHO deaths, 1979: Switch to ICD-9 (list 09B, item B55: homicide and injury purposely inflicted by other persons, E960-E969). source
WHO deaths, 1981: ONS: "Industrial action taken by registration officers affected the quality of information about deaths from injury and poisoning. Details normally supplied by coroners were not available ... Categories such as 'transport accidents' and 'homicide' were significantly understated." source
WHO deaths, 1993: ONS: "Changes to the rules for selecting and coding cause of death brought England and Wales into line with international practice in 1993"; automated cause coding was introduced the same year. source
WHO deaths, 2001: Switch to ICD-10 (codes X85-Y09, assault). source

Years each source has a figure here

'01'05'10'15'20'25Homicide IndexWHO deaths

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

Offences recorded as homicide by the police, count (1960-2025)

Each line is the source that counts most for that group.

Currently recorded as homicide
Initially recorded as homicide

Group	Figure	Year	Trust
Currently recorded as homicide	522	2025	58 Low
Initially recorded as homicide	524	2025	63 Moderate

Show every year as a table

Year	Currently recorded as homicide	Initially recorded as homicide
1960	–	282
1961	–	265
1962	–	299
1963	–	307
1964	–	296
1965	–	325
1966	–	364
1967	354	414
1968	360	420
1969	332	395
1970	339	396
1971	407	459
1972	409	480
1973	391	465
1974	526	599
1975	443	508
1976	488	565
1977	413	484
1978	468	536
1979	547	620
1980	535	626
1981	501	556
1982	557	618
1983	482	552
1984	537	619
1985	536	625
1986	563	659
1987	600	687
1988	547	645
1989	521	622
1990	554	661
1991	622	725
1992	581	681
1993	566	674
1994	633	728
1995	662	752
1996	586	676
1997	607	734
1998	602	728
1999	639	741
2000	668	761
2001	760	847
2002	793	857
2003	942	1,041
2004	773	855
2005	777	833
2006	709	766
2007	711	751
2008	731	773
2009	637	672
2010	592	621
2011	631	653
2012	525	545
2013	543	567
2014	520	539
2015	504	526
2016	538	556
2017	689	707
2018	698	719
2019	641	655
2020	676	689
2021	555	568
2022	672	682
2023	581	583
2024	566	571
2025	522	524

Homicide victims per million people of the same sex (1960-2025)

Each line is the source that counts most for that group.

Male
Female

Group	Figure	Year	Trust
Male	12.27	2025	58 Low
Female	5	2025	58 Low

Show every year as a table

Year	Male	Female
2015	11.27	6.32
2016	12.71	5.93
2017	17.86	5.89
2018	16.64	7.23
2019	14.31	7.42
2020	16.78	6.06
2021	13.37	5.24
2022	16.64	6.45
2023	13.72	5.73
2024	13.67	5.09
2025	12.27	5

Suspects convicted of homicide, by sex (count, years ending March 2015-2025)

Each line is the source that counts most for that group.

Male
Female

Group	Figure	Year	Trust
Male	225	2025	63 Moderate
Female	22	2025	63 Moderate

Show every year as a table

Year	Male	Female
2015	361	39
2016	406	45
2017	439	32
2018	480	39
2019	462	36
2020	497	25
2021	434	42
2022	564	58
2023	508	33
2024	432	33
2025	225	22

Suspects convicted of homicide per million people in the same sex group (years ending March 2015-2025)

Each line is the source that counts most for that group.

Male
Female

Group	Figure	Year	Trust
Male	7.43	2025	63 Moderate
Female	0.7	2025	63 Moderate

Show every year as a table

Year	Male	Female
2015	12.79	1.34
2016	14.27	1.53
2017	15.31	1.08
2018	16.65	1.31
2019	15.96	1.2
2020	17.09	0.83
2021	14.9	1.39
2022	19.31	1.9
2023	17.2	1.07
2024	14.42	1.06
2025	7.43	0.7

Each line is the source that counts most for that group.

Male
Female

Group	Figure	Year	Trust
Male	48.99	2024	71 Moderate
Female	51.01	2024	71 Moderate

Show every year as a table

Year	Male	Female
2014	49.15	50.85
2015	49.15	50.85
2016	49.13	50.87
2017	49.1	50.9
2018	49.07	50.93
2019	49.03	50.97
2020	49	51
2021	48.95	51.05
2022	48.96	51.04
2023	48.97	51.03
2024	48.99	51.01

Suspects convicted of homicide, by age (count, years ending March 2015-2025)

Each line is the source that counts most for that group.

Under 16

16 to 24

25 to 34

35 to 44

45 to 54

55 to 64

65 to 74

75 plus

Group	Figure	Year	Trust
Under 16	11	2025	63 Moderate
16 to 24	74	2025	63 Moderate
25 to 34	61	2025	63 Moderate
35 to 44	53	2025	63 Moderate
45 to 54	26	2025	63 Moderate
55 to 64	17	2025	63 Moderate
65 to 74	1	2025	63 Moderate
75 plus	4	2025	63 Moderate

Show every year as a table

Year	Under 16	16 to 24	25 to 34	35 to 44	45 to 54	55 to 64	65 to 74	75 plus
2015	13	112	116	78	57	15	7	2
2016	4	151	126	89	59	16	4	2
2017	15	169	124	98	39	22	2	2
2018	26	212	129	81	50	16	4	1
2019	13	181	144	77	54	12	13	4
2020	13	218	141	90	38	14	3	5
2021	15	185	131	77	40	14	9	2
2022	37	244	150	111	57	19	3	1
2023	16	193	143	110	49	20	6	4
2024	22	176	117	80	49	12	4	5
2025	11	74	61	53	26	17	1	4

Suspects convicted of homicide per million people in the same age group (years ending March 2015-2025)

Each line is the source that counts most for that group.

Under 16

16 to 24

25 to 34

35 to 44

45 to 54

55 to 64

65 to 74

75 plus

Group	Figure	Year	Trust
Under 16	0.98	2025	63 Moderate
16 to 24	11.24	2025	63 Moderate
25 to 34	7.27	2025	63 Moderate
35 to 44	6.32	2025	63 Moderate
45 to 54	3.41	2025	63 Moderate
55 to 64	2.15	2025	63 Moderate
65 to 74	0.17	2025	63 Moderate
75 plus	0.69	2025	63 Moderate

Show every year as a table

Year	Under 16	16 to 24	25 to 34	35 to 44	45 to 54	55 to 64	65 to 74	75 plus
2015	1.2	16.94	14.9	10.34	7.03	2.32	1.28	0.43
2016	0.37	22.92	16.08	11.78	7.21	2.44	0.71	0.43
2017	1.37	25.83	15.65	12.99	4.73	3.29	0.35	0.42
2018	2.35	32.86	16.19	10.75	6.06	2.34	0.69	0.21
2019	1.17	28.33	17.99	10.19	6.57	1.71	2.22	0.82
2020	1.17	34.37	17.51	11.83	4.68	1.95	0.51	1
2021	1.35	29.4	16.3	10.03	5	1.9	1.53	0.39
2022	3.36	38.64	18.68	14.3	7.24	2.52	0.51	0.19
2023	1.44	30.21	17.6	13.82	6.31	2.6	1.03	0.73
2024	1.97	27.12	14.09	9.73	6.38	1.54	0.68	0.88
2025	0.98	11.24	7.27	6.32	3.41	2.15	0.17	0.69

Each line is the source that counts most for that group.

Under 16

16 to 24

25 to 34

35 to 44

45 to 54

55 to 64

65 to 74

75 plus

Group	Figure	Year	Trust
Under 16	18.09	2024	71 Moderate
16 to 24	10.66	2024	71 Moderate
25 to 34	13.59	2024	71 Moderate
35 to 44	13.57	2024	71 Moderate
45 to 54	12.35	2024	71 Moderate
55 to 64	12.8	2024	71 Moderate
65 to 74	9.55	2024	71 Moderate
75 plus	9.41	2024	71 Moderate

Show every year as a table

Year	Under 16	16 to 24	25 to 34	35 to 44	45 to 54	55 to 64	65 to 74	75 plus
2014	18.81	11.51	13.55	13.13	14.11	11.27	9.55	8.06
2015	18.8	11.38	13.54	13.05	14.13	11.33	9.69	8.08
2016	18.81	11.21	13.57	12.93	14.13	11.45	9.82	8.07
2017	18.83	10.99	13.58	12.84	14.06	11.66	9.9	8.13
2018	18.82	10.83	13.57	12.81	13.92	11.88	9.93	8.25
2019	18.74	10.69	13.58	12.83	13.69	12.1	9.91	8.45
2020	18.64	10.59	13.53	12.92	13.46	12.38	9.92	8.58
2021	18.46	10.58	13.46	13.01	13.2	12.62	9.93	8.73
2022	18.38	10.59	13.47	13.19	12.86	12.74	9.69	9.07
2023	18.25	10.61	13.58	13.45	12.55	12.76	9.56	9.24
2024	18.09	10.66	13.59	13.57	12.35	12.8	9.55	9.41

About this data

Every source on this page (5)

Who is behind the sources

96% Statistics office
4% International body

Each publisher, its funding and its own description

Office for National Statistics (ONS) · Statistics officeFunding: UK government budget; ONS is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department. sourceIn its own words: “Our main responsibilities are collecting, analysing and disseminating statistics about the UK's economy, society and population.” source, retrieved 2026-10-27
World Health Organization (WHO) · International bodyFunding: Assessed contributions (membership dues) from member states, plus voluntary contributions from member states and other partners. sourceIn its own words: “…WHO is the United Nations agency that connects nations, partners and people to promote health…” source, retrieved 2026-10-27

ONS, Homicide in England and Wales: appendix tables, year ending March 2025, Worksheet 31Office for National Statistics (ONS) (statistics office) · Police and justice recordsUsed for 20 numbers; counts toward 20. Years 2025. Retrieved 2026-10-26.Data (Excel file)
ONS mid-year population estimates, England and Wales, by sex and age (Nomis NM_2002_1)Office for National Statistics (ONS) (statistics office) · Population registerUsed for 10 numbers; counts toward 10. Years 2024. Retrieved 2026-10-27.Open the publisher's page Data (CSV file)
WHO Mortality Database, deaths by assault, United Kingdom: England and Wales (code 4310)World Health Organization (WHO) (international body) · Death and health registersUsed for 4 numbers; counts toward 4. Years 2024. Retrieved 2026-10-27.Open the publisher's page
ONS, Homicide in England and Wales: appendix tables, year ending March 2025, Table 1Office for National Statistics (ONS) (statistics office) · Police and justice recordsUsed for 3 numbers; counts toward 3. Years 2025. Retrieved 2026-10-26.Data (Excel file)
ONS, Homicide in England and Wales: appendix tables, year ending March 2025, Worksheet 4Office for National Statistics (ONS) (statistics office) · Police and justice recordsUsed for 2 numbers; counts toward 2. Years 2025. Retrieved 2026-10-26.Data (Excel file)

Why the numbers differ (3)

The two lines count different things. The Homicide Index counts offences the police record as homicide, by the year they were recorded. WHO counts registered deaths whose underlying cause is coded as assault (X85-Y09). ONS: deaths registered after an adjourned inquest get a temporary code (U50.9, before 2007 Y33.9) and "Most of these are eventually reassigned to assault ... but the delays before this happens can affect the published figures in the under-estimation of deaths from assault", so ONS's own assault totals add U50.9. The WHO file has no U50.9 rows for England and Wales, so its line is lower. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)
ONS: "Homicide Index data are based on the year when the offence was recorded as a crime, not when the offence took place or when the case was heard in court." The 173 Shipman victims are all in the year ending March 2003, though the killings took place over a long period. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)
The Homicide Index uses calendar years up to 1997 and financial years (April to March) after; WHO uses calendar years throughout. This page stores each financial year under the year it ends in. (source, retrieved 2026-10-26)

Common mistakes (3)

Reading a one-year jump as a change in killings that year: the year ending March 2017 includes 96 victims of Hillsborough, and the year ending March 2003 the 173 Shipman victims. (source, retrieved 2026-10-26)
Reading the low count of convicted suspects for the year ending March 2025 as less offending: many of those cases had not reached court by 5 December 2025. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)
Comparing offences initially recorded (from 1960) with offences currently recorded (from 1967): the first includes deaths the police or courts later decided were not homicide.

Context (2)

Sources considered and not used (4)

ONS death registration tables (assault including U50.9): ONS's own assault totals add deaths awaiting an adjourned inquest (code U50.9); these tables were not downloaded, and the WHO copy of ONS registrations, which lacks U50.9, is shown instead without re-coding. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)
ONS appendix Worksheet 28 and Table 34 (indicted suspects and principal suspects by sex): Left out to keep convicted suspects apart from people indicted, and to keep the page under about 40 numbers; Worksheet 31 (convicted suspects by sex and age) is shown. (source, retrieved 2026-10-26)
Police recorded crime in the quarterly Crime in England and Wales bulletin: It has newer homicide counts than the Homicide Index but they are provisional and later revised into the Index; the page keeps one police line.
WHO Mortality Database, years before 1960: On disk back to 1950 (ICD-7) but the question starts in 1960, so the series starts there. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)

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Cite as: RealStats, “How has the number of homicides in England and Wales changed since 1960?”, updated 2026-10-27, with the original sources listed on the page. Scores use formula version 1.0.
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How has the number of homicides in England and Wales changed since 1960?

Homicide rate in England and Wales, year ending March 2025

Homicides recorded in England and Wales, year ending March 2025

Offences recorded as homicide by the police, count (1960-2025)

Homicide victims per million people of the same sex (1960-2025)

Suspects convicted of homicide, by sex (count, years ending March 2015-2025)

Suspects convicted of homicide per million people in the same sex group (years ending March 2015-2025)

Share of the population of England and Wales, by sex (%, mid-2014 to mid-2024)

Suspects convicted of homicide, by age (count, years ending March 2015-2025)

Suspects convicted of homicide per million people in the same age group (years ending March 2015-2025)

Share of the population of England and Wales, by age (%, mid-2014 to mid-2024)

About this data

Who is behind the sources