About this data

Source: ONS, Homicide in England and Wales (Homicide Index); Scottish Government, Homicide in Scotland 2024-25; PSNI, Police recorded crime in Northern Ireland; ONS mid-year population estimates

• Each nation publishes its own homicide statistics, with slightly different definitions. England and Wales count homicide offences (murder, manslaughter and infanticide) by the year the police recorded them; Scotland counts victims of murder and culpable homicide; Northern Ireland counts police-recorded murder, manslaughter, infanticide and corporate manslaughter.
• Separate figures for England and for Wales start in 2014/15. Homicides recorded by British Transport Police (between 0 and 7 a year) count towards the England and Wales total but neither nation.
• Rates use ONS mid-year population estimates (mid-2024 for the year to March 2025), which start in 1991; Scotland's and Northern Ireland's statistics go back further, to 1980/81 and 1969 respectively, including the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
• Small numbers make rates for Wales and Northern Ireland jump around from year to year: one or two extra homicides change the rate noticeably.
• Northern Ireland's figure for 1998/99 includes the 29 people killed in the Omagh bombing in August 1998.

This chart appears in Crime.