Barcelona, among the great cities of the world with fewer murders

BarcelonaWhich city would top a ranking of major world cities with the fewest homicides? And in what position would Barcelona appear? The fact that nine murders have occurred in six months has generated insecurity – especially for residents living near the scenes of the crimes – and criticism from the opposition, both in the Generalitat and the municipal government. As this newspaper has learned, Barcelona has committed the same number of crimes in six months as in the entire past year, and the vast majority are linked to organized crime – such as the execution on Carrer Balmes – and clan disputes.

The reality is also that Barcelona has historically not been and is not a city with many homicides when compared to its European surroundings. Much less so when compared to other cities in the world. The Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, reproached a few days ago that "unnecessary alarmism" was being generated about security.

Based on UN data on the homicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants in the three main cities of each country, with data ranging from 2005 to 2023 and averaging all available years, ARA has compiled a ranking. Since not all cities have provided figures every year – Barcelona has done so from 2013 to 2023, for example – urban centers with very unrepresentative or very old samples have been eliminated. In total, 159 cities remain, and among them, Barcelona is the fourteenth with the fewest homicides.

Barcelona has a rate of 0.80 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, slightly higher than Madrid (0.60) and also above those registered in Rome (0.77), Milan, and Munich. However, among cities with the lowest homicide rates, Irbid in Jordan stands out with a rate of 0.43, followed by Krakow (Poland), Trondheim (Norway), and Rijeka (Croatia). In sixteenth place in the ranking is Valencia (0.81), followed by cities such as Zurich, Hamburg, Athens, Lyon, Oslo, Warsaw, or Vienna.

But capitals like Paris (2.02) or Berlin (2.32) have a rate much higher than Barcelona's. On the negative side, Marseille's figure stands out, with a rate of 4.69 homicides, placing it practically in the middle of the table. Shortly after, we find New York, in the USA, but with figures much higher than the European ones (5.16). However, the cities with the most homicides are found in Honduras (there are two) and in Jamaica, Kingston. Specifically, the Jamaican capital has a rate of 128 homicides – and remember that Barcelona's is 0.80.

The Barcelona data goes up to 2023, but it should be taken into account that incorporating the 2024 and 2025 balances would not increase the rate. Only if the rebound observed in 2026 were to consolidate in the coming years could the rate end up increasing. In any case, Barcelona occupying one of the most favorable positions in the ranking does not prevent the police from being concerned about the rise of organized crime and its shooting retaliations. Once again, however, this is not just a Catalan problem.

The ports, the key element

In its latest report, the European Union Agency for Drugs identifies drug trafficking as a central threat to internal security and explicitly points out the risk of spreading violence and the recruitment of young people. Recent Europol reports also place cocaine as the main threat and warn that higher levels of crime, corruption, and violence are detected in the main ports through which it enters. This is an important element to understand why these criminal groups are in Barcelona: the Catalan capital's port is the sixth largest in Europe for cocaine seizures.

Jordi Bonshoms, professor of criminology in the law department at UPF, explains that port cities and those with industrial spaces like the Zona Franca "attract the interest of organized crime". They are particularly interested in the "transfer of goods" due to the arrival of cocaine from South America, but also because mafias no longer launder money by "introducing cash into banks", but rather by exchanging goods in ports. Technically, in English it is called trade based money laundering.In this regard, Bonshoms explains that traditional drug mafias have dispersed and have also tried to diversify their businesses, placing some in the formal economy. "And they don't dispute so much with violence with the State," he explains. But various police sources, both those fighting drugs in southern Spain and in Catalonia, warn of the rise of new, more violent clans, such as the so-called Swedish and Belgian Mocro Maffia, the mafias from Marseille or those from Montenegro, which have already left several fatalities in Catalonia.

Relevant increases

Precisament, in the UN data on homicides, an increase in crimes is observed in certain parts of Europe from 2021 onwards. These cities again coincide with important ports: Marseille has a rising rate, as does Hamburg, Germany's main port. In Rotterdam (Netherlands), the second port through which the most cocaine enters Europe, the homicide rate has also increased in recent years.

A police source specializing in the fight against drug mafias exemplifies that the main objective of police action must be to prevent these clans from settling in Catalonia, as there is a risk that smaller and less violent criminal groups may "mimic" the behavior of large mafias. In cases of executions in Catalonia, the Mossos detect that they are more linked to drug traffickers fleeing justice who hide in Barcelona and are murdered by rival clans rather than to criminal structures rooted in the territory.

The next question, however, is why they choose Barcelona. The first reflection a police source makes is that they are looking for good weather and beaches. It may seem irrelevant, but they say it is not. It also contributes that it has a high percentage of foreign residents – almost half a million – which allows the fugitive to go unnoticed. Police sources agree, once again, that the fact that Barcelona has a very active port in drug trafficking means that groups want to have a presence in the city. Not only the Mossos say this, but also Europol, which defines it as a hub for drug distribution, especially South American cocaine.