Some 14,000 people were murdered in Colombia in 2008, the country’s national
forensics agency announced Monday. The murder rate again is lower than
the year before.
According to Medicina Legal, 14,038 people were murdered in the country last year, an average of 38 murders a day.
The majority of victims was male and in between 20 and 29 years old.
Colombia’s capital Bogotá did see a rise in murders in 2008; 1,459 people were victim of homicide last year, which is a three percent rise compared to 2007.
Bogotá has less murders per inhabitant than other Colombian cities like Medellín and Cali and has the fourth highest murder rate of capitals in Latin America.
Colombia’s as a whole — with 18 murders per 100 thousand inhabitants — occupies Latin America’s fourth place when it comes to its murder rate.