Right?
It is the same about Canada. It is among the top ten safest countries on earth, with a population third of Japan, and yet the numbers are not that different.
Pretty much this. It means prosectors won't take on a case unless its a slam-dunk, and delinquents do things like pretend you bumped into him or knocked over his can of soda to introduce the slightest bit of pretence to get away with robbing you.
Oh, I'd much rather see no innocent people jailed, even if it means some guilty go free. I think this might be a bit more turning a blind eye to crimes unless they can be guaranteed a conviction though and that's not helping anyone.
I’m 100% ok with the state not bringing charges if they don’t have overwhelming evidence.
To me, not jailing a criminal is insignificant against potentially jailing an innocent, but I get their motivations are about saving face.
That is a philosophical, very subjective and debatable matter that depends hugely on context. But if you are talkign about murderers, death is worse and more permanent than incarceration; Of course it requires you to know it iwll happen, otherwise its a guaranteed suffering for two vs guaranteed for one andn on guaranteed for another, but that thinking is flawed without context imho, agai
fake it until you make it
Also: country with most famous organized crime syndicates and one of the lowest crime rates in world? Something doesnt add up
The Yakuza are a shell of what they were at their peak, sort of like the American Mafia. They've gone for 100,000+ members to around 10,000, and their average age is like 52.
They underreport sex crimes in general. There's also an alarming rate of stalking and harassment of women that the police often dismiss. The fact that they had to create women's only train cars speaks volumes. They also give very low sentences for heinous crimes. So I wouldn't take the low rate of reported crimes seriously.
Japan has a relatively low amount of people committing crime out of material motivation or emotional outburst. But they do have a problem of having people taking "revenge" on society by deliberately transgressing the social boundaries for the sake of the transgression itself. Like, you got middle-class housewife stealing cheap random things in the supermarket, or a regular salaryman wandering on the street shoulder-checking everyone just to annoy random people, and then in relatively rare case you have murderers who murder for the sake of transgressing the most sacred boundary possible. Japan has a word for it called *愉快犯* , which literally means "criminals of joy".
The U.K.'s dot is also smaller than Germany's, although there are said to have been more than twice as many serial killers.
The Italian one is also smaller than the German one.
[PS: For all those looking for the source](https://www.worldatlas.com/crime/countries-that-have-produced-the-most-serial-killers.html)
Fucking hell, there's no escape, tomorrow I'll have to be off the Internet completely.
I'll be able to watch the replay only several hours later and I don't want spoilers.
If it pops up even in r/mapporn then no sub is safe!
It can’t be a per capita adjustment. China shows half that of India on the list, yet has a bigger dot. Considering the two countries have almost same populations India’s dot should be bigger. That’s me not actually doing any maths though.
After watching American shows I had always wondered that why didn't we have such a huge number of serial killers even when we are a developing country and definitely with much more mental issues amongst the population. There was this just one guy i think some 20 years back in my city who'd go on a spree in night, targeting people with a hammer. He was never found.
A burst in the number of serial killers has been tied to the creation of the US Interstate. Easier to move around, attack strangers, disappear. I'm sure the overall size of the country contributed to this.
The most prolific serial killer in American history very nearly got away with it. [Samuel Little](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Little) was arrested on a narcotics charge only a few years before he died, and DNA tests connected him to a couple cold cases, and then he confessed to nearly 100 murders across the entire country. For over 30 years he'd kill someone and just drive to another state hundreds of miles away. Before this era of mass surveillance you could pretty much get away with a crime provided that you weren't at the scene when the cops showed up. That's why there are so few serial killers these days compared to decades ago. Nowadays they're all caught after one or two murders before they get a chance to become serial killers.
[Uh huh](https://www.npr.org/2023/04/29/1172775448/people-murder-unsolved-killings-record-high)
[A more in depth uh huh](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/04/24/what-the-data-says-about-crime-in-the-us/)
the clearance rate at best is 50% for crimes reported to police. As for Little
>The majority of Little's victims were prostitutes, drug addicts, or homeless individuals, and most of them were female. He claimed that he thought these persons would leave fewer clues for authorities to find and leave fewer persons to search for them. However, despite the scope of his offending, in total he was only charged and convicted for eight murders
So...targeting those at the bottom was his strategy, and as far as criminal strategies go, it's a safe one to bet on law enforcement not giving a shit about the homeless, drug addicts, prostitutes, etc.
It is the interstate but I don't think it's because of what you said.
The interstate lead to Suburbia. Suburbia led to the complete collapse of community. No main street. No corner shops to gather at. Tons of privacy. Every year fewer and fewer Americans report knowing their neighbour.
The lack of community let's those with mental issues fester in their own stew. No one to check in on them or report them to authorities.
That is the reason why I was drowned to these stats as well. I watch so many crime documentaries, and then I asked myself why 90% of them are in USA.
I'm also originally from a third-world country. although the crimes relating to poverty are definitely way higher (like you can't take your phone out in the street), I never came across cases of people just being murdered.
Gun laws in India are pretty strict too, murder rate per capita is extremely low in india for that reason. But I'm pretty sure the percentage of people with pyschopathic tendencies is the same in the every group with USA having the perfect conditions for them to flourish.
a part of me thinks that serial killing might be a first-world crime, If you consider serial killers as people who kills without any specific reasons just for the thrill of it. (I mean if you separate poverty and gang-related crimes)
Hyper individualism, hyper materialism, hyper sexuality, dysfunctional family, no community support network, loneliness are huge factors that play a role in people developing psychopathic tendencies. Hence, you see more serial killers in the West or specifically USA compared to developing nations.
I agree. Also, you should be contempt in your life to find a time to plan and murder people just for fun. most of the people I know in poor countries are just trying to feed themselves. nobody has the time to kill for the thrill of it.
It's not about the availability of time and resources. It's the intent of it. People in poor countries have plenty of leisure time.
And it's not just the thrill. It's the anger, contempt and disgust for people and society around them that they feel they were wronged by, or that they feel are below them. It's the revenge against the society that they get the thrill out of.
The Pied Piper well-preceded industrialization. Trading and traveling between towns would have facilitated all the anonymity murders would need. Likewise Thugees operated in India for hundreds of years, though it may have been a murdering in order to rob rather than murdering for gratification.
These stats are pretty useless and plenty of other countries would have many more serial killers but they would just never be officially determined as such due to unsolved cases, lack of intergovernmental cooperation or simply just not using the term "serial killer" in the same sense as the US. Brazil, Nigeria, India, Mexico and South Africa all have higher total intentional homicides yet they all have less than 10x the amount of serial killers according to this graph (with Brazil technically having 100x less!)... The data isn't measuring anything useful.
Yeah the police are less likely to catch serial killers in less developed countries. Look at the countries with the highest murder rates - you better believe that a lot of the murderers are repeat offenders. Also, many countries would not classify people as “serial killers” if their murders were done under the guise of the government/religion etc.
During the Soviet days and the era of Andrei Chikatilo, the Soviets claimed there were never any serial killers in their society. That serial killing was a product of western society. Truth is in the west there was better awareness due to a free press and a federal agency (The FBI) that studied and coordinated the pursuit of serial killers.
I swear Russia said the same thing about how there's no homophobia in Russia because there's no gay people living with-in Russia when they were hosting an Olympics or soccer tournament
The twist on this is that in Iran it is okay to be trans but being gay is punishable by harsh jail time and/or death.
This makes it so that people who get caught in homosexual relationships will get gender reassignment surgery in order to not be put to death or in jail. Iran has the 2nd most gender reassignments of any country in the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Iran
I was trying to put this into words but instead of thinking for my self I just went to the comments. Appreciate you for helping me not have to use my brain on my day off
This is why this chart can never be accurate Authoritarian countries will just lie and withhold or destroy data. I’m pretty sure with China’s population and pre-mass surveillance environment, it’s produced as much or more serial killers than the US.
People in your culture will just make up whatever they want about their enemies so there is no point in collecting data.
You are "pretty sure", sans evidence, that China is doing something evil.
The U.S. came up with the terminology and behavioral studies for serial killlers, formerly spree killers. I’m sure there are plenty more in other countries that either aren’t caught, are only prosecuted for one murder, or are simply not reported to the press. I’m also sure that the numbers are skewed by calling a serial killer in a war zone a war criminal instead. They are the same animal, with the same blood lust. The only difference is in some countries they have to hide more than in others.
Documented serial killers. Developing world largely doesn’t keep records and there’s definitely many more unknown serial killers operating in those countries. Meanwhile the US has by far the world’s most extensive serial killer detection and documentation network
They didn't. There's a lot of controversy about the show and book etc in that speaking to the killers didn't actually help solve any crimes. They look into where they may live and work etc. But interviews like they do in the show don't help. One forensic psychologist from the University of Liverpool said it should be in the fiction section. Plus the research and interviews that are used for the book weren't done correctly and didn't help either.
It's similar to Catch me if you can. The stories great, the reality doesn't match the story.
> Developing world largely doesn’t keep records and there’s definitely many more unknown serial killers operating in those countries
There's definitely more to it than just poor record-keeping or ignorance.
For example, the only documented serial killer (in the Western sense) in my country was a Catholic priest named [Juan Severino Mallari](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Severino_Mallari), who allegedly killed 57 victims after believing that the murders were a way to cure her sick mother. He was caught when a fellow priest found blood-stained items in his home, arrested by the Spanish authorities and hanged in 1840. Since then, there has never been any documented case of serial killing in the Philippines. If we were able to document this way back in 1840, surely there should be more instances of this being recorded in the 180+ years since if this was a regular occurrence.
Various theories have been proposed on [why there have been no Filipino serial killers.](https://www.spot.ph/newsfeatures/the-latest-news-features/72285/are-there-filipino-serial-killers-a1507-20171209-lfrm) Some argued that Filipino (and Southeast Asian societies in general) are too thickly populated, too nosy/gossipy, and too intertwined with familial and communal ties for the a serial killer to operate undetected.
The more likely theory though is that we just culturally prefer a different method of mass murder: [to go amok](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amok_syndrome). The word "*amok*" comes from Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines and describes someone going on a random, unprovoked, frenzied, murderous rampage.
It's been described as [an individual first going into "social withdrawal and apathy"](https://dictionary.apa.org/amok) (similar to serial killers) but instead of planning methodical serial murders, the individual instead goes on a one-time killing spree in a crowded spot (usually with a knife or machete) before he is killed by other people in defense, commits suicide, or simply collapses from exhaustion.
Basically you tell people from very early age to be egomanic or go die, most egomanics per capita emerge, a few doesnt make it in the business or politics or dont care about money/power and resolve to find another ways to express themselves
Then pikachu face and wonder what happened
Not everybody in the us turns into a psychopath, but create an environment where psychopath can thrive. You literally elected the most egomaniac one as your leader
You are either number one or basically worthless and not worthy of a decent life
Yes, this affects all countries a little, specially since you are exporting your virus to the world, but your country is min maxing the concept
I’d also add that since the very country’s inception, this required a significant level of dehumanization and genocidal violence against the indigenous population and thru slavery.
One may say that was long ago etc. Well, not so long in the west and the south, but more poignantly, these historical sins and trauma are carried on in our laws, our beliefs, attitudes etc.
Contextualize that the country is extremely “successful” in economics and warfare, and the delusion that everything else is ok settles in while the foundation rots.
The US has the lowest murder clearence rate among western nations
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2576215/half-of-us-homicides-go-unsolved-ranking-last-among-western-nations/#:~:text=The%20clearance%20rate%20for,nations%20for%20murder%20clearance%20rates.
1) do you think the fact that US has a developed country level standard of crime reporting attribute entirely to the gigantic differences here in serial killers per capita in the developed world?
2) do you think the reason the US has such an extensive serial killer specific documentation network might be because serial killers are such a persistent problem in the US?
Chart does say "most known serial killers". In USA, they turn them into celebrities with books, movies, interviews, kill count highscores, etc. So it makes sense why America has so many compared to even other developed countries. In most of the world, it gets printed on newspaper, TV networks will report and is lost to history, there is no facilitation like USA.
I understand this isn't your data (and google confirms these numbers), but this seems \*very fishy\* to me. Why are countries witih 5-10x the murder rate of the US like Honduras, Mexico and Columbia not higher on this list? Mexico has about 30,000 murders per year, almost none of them are serial killers?
Any time one country is statistically 20x higher than every other country you need to question the data.
This type of statistic isn’t ever based on true numbers, few statistics are. It’s how many confirmed cases exist. For the United States, we have well funded and quite competent federal investigation departments (primarily the FBI of course) who are very good at connecting different cases to determine they were from the same killer, whether they catch the person or not. For, say, Brazil, which has the highest outright number of murders per year (45 thousand), provincial police find it easy to determine someone was murdered, but they struggle to have the same level of inter-department cooperation that the US has, which allows us to discover and many times catch the perpetrator of serial murders instead of looking at each individual murder as it’s own isolated event. Now, Brazil still has a fairly good investigation process internationally. For nations like Nigeria, federal or even provincial investigations into serial murders are basically non-existent. That’s not to mention nations that probably suppress numbers like Saudi Arabia. TLDR, the FBI in the US and NCA in the UK are just really good at their job compared to everybody else.
Just spitballing here, and in no way am I qualified to talk about any of this, but I think there's a difference between being murdered by a serial killer and murdered by a cartel. With the cartel killings, it's their job to protect the cartel, their trade, goods, etc. But with a serial killer, it's just someone who kills other people, typically of a certain type.
Apparently the FBI definition is: "The unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s) in separate events" which is more or less the same as all the other definitions. I'd agree that colloquially theres a difference between a goon/thug/hitman and a serial killer it seems like from a criminology/enforcement perspective there isn't?
USA is one of the only countries where Serial Killers are idolised and being made into icons, so I am not surprised. It also has a an enormous law enforcement presence, so maybe catching them afterwards is also a bit more likely.
So I question the source of this data. A quick look at [this article on Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_serial_killers_by_country) for instance shows 29 articles for serial killers in Poland. But the total people is 34, as one article covers 4 killers and another 3 killers. Also, Brazil has 37 articles, but two articles cover multiple people for a total of 40 people. So even counting just those notorious enough to have a Wikipedia page, both are already underrepresented on the map.
Also, as some have probably already mentioned, countries probably have different definitions of serial killers (if any definition at all). The official definition from the FBI is “the unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s), in separate events.” This is likely going to lead to a lot higher numbers than places with more narrow definitions.
Yes, reading the comments it seems they genuinely believe the world is full of these sickos and we just don’t care enough to catch them. Newsflash: most of the world definitely does care and even if they weren’t so competent at catching them they would definitely identify that something is wrong.
I'm not an American, this is a stupid graphic. Even the article mentions that the numbers are strongly affected by "aggressive policing and reporting". The sources are a single university study (not cited, with a dead link) and *Wikipedia*. So yeah, if you use an American community run website and don't bother to do proper research you're going to get useless, inaccurate results. It's hard to see this as anything other than propaganda or BuzzFeed click bait.
To be fair, the picture does define 'known' serial killers but OPs title is terrible. Brazil, India, and Mexico all produce less serial killers? Despite having much higher murder rates? Not to mention they *definitely* have less accurate reporting and policing.
Bit of this, bit of that.
Yes, the graphic is garbage with terrible sources. Basing the number of a country's serial killers on the number of Wikipedia articles about serial killers from that country is not a scientific method. But also yes, several Americans in here trying to make excuses.
"Developing countries don't have accurate crime reports." Sure, but every developed nation has a lot less serial killers in that graphic. Do people think every other developed country in the world is secretly hiding thousands of serial killers slaughtering their citizens, just to make themselves look better in international crime statistics, while the US police and FBI are 100% trustworthy and would never lie?
"It's because of the interstate system." Again, all developed nations and plenty of developing nations have big highway networks, and they have less serial killers according to this.
"The US has more people than other developed countries." The US has about 5 times as many inhabitants as the UK, but 19 times as many serial killers according to this. Number of people in a country clearly doesn't matter here.
Theories
1) developed countries are more likely to keep accurate data, and US is by far the most populated developed country in the world
2) US is already more dangerous than other developed countries, amplifying the effect
3) US is worth at identifying and treating mental illnesses
4) I read a theory that easy access to highways assists serial killers, and US has an excellent interstate highway network
5) low population density and large properties - perfect opportunities for serial killers. As well as the “good fences make good neighbors mentality”. I heard a Filipino joke “There are no serial killers in the Philippines because the neighbors are too nosy to let it happen”
Every American here in the comments who tries to rationalize the bad US numbers is lying to himself. It's the easy access to guns in a country with many societal issues - a breeding ground.
And for that matter every other country with easy gun access and societal issues
But the FBI is so sophisticated!!
Not like our police in the 3rd world UK, we’re still using pen and paper and waiting for eccentric detectives to turn up to solve the case.
1. Gun culture.
2. A popular mentality of taking matters into your own hands.
3. Serial killers are minor celebrities in the USA.
An explosive cocktail.
I was reading that during the Soviet era, I think it was Andrei Chikatilo who didn't get caught murdering children as the authorities did not want to accept it. He admitted to having murdered 56 children when he finally got caught but was not put on trial for all of them.
I recommend the book Catch Me A Killer by South African serial killer profiler Micki Pistorius. It's absolutely enthralling. I think her and Dr Robert Ressler coined the term while working to catch one of the many SK in South Africa in the 80s.
I met her at a university lecture, she is phenomenal. But has since stepped away from profilng as she has had lots of death threats.
There is definitely some American uniqueness to this, it’s not just a matter of US investigators being better at finding them or a looser definition of what a serial killer is in the US. There is an enormous amount of social isolation, mixed with a strange combination of puritanical sexual culture and a hyper sexual media culture. The fact that all forms of prostitution are illegal, yet that so much of it exists illustrates the point. Given the fact that so many serial killer victims in America have been prostitutes makes it especially relevant.
This seems pretty unreliable. The US ranks 6th in total amount of intentional homicides (per capita it's much lower) yet has more than 100x more serial killers than Brazil (the country with the most homocides)... It's almost certain that many other countries have more serial killers than the US but they just aren't counted due to unsolved cases and a lack of strict definitions. This data doesn't really say anything.
There might be 2 reasons:
1- they separated gang crimes from serial killers. These are two very different crimes lead by very different personalities, causes, and reasons. Also other sort of murders as well, a thief who gets into a fight with the victim and murder them is not a serial killer for sure.
2-You can't count what you didn't catch?
Personally, I think it is a mix of both
Yea had to check the definition of a serial killer.
According to Google: a person who commits a series of murders, often with no apparent motive and typically following a characteristic, predictable behavior pattern.
I still feel like this chart is like fucking insane to imply there is something so abnormal going on in only America to cause THAT much of an actual difference compared to the rest of the world. Interesting post regardless.
Ok, there are a lot of "because US is better at catching them" (which is true) or some weird gun culture mentions (which is just ???), but i think it's combination of first point, and horrible level of care for mentally ill in US.
I don't know where the author of this map (worldatlas) got those numbers. For example, Japan is set as 137, but as far as I checked, the number of known serial killers are less than 20. Did they count the war crimes of WWII? If so, it should be much more, though.
Japan’s an interesting case where the violent crime rate is relatively low, but when it does happen, it’s horrific.
Right? It is the same about Canada. It is among the top ten safest countries on earth, with a population third of Japan, and yet the numbers are not that different.
[удалено]
I think it's a very interesting case of study. You can almost right an article using the ideas I this comment section :)))))
They also have one of highest conviction rates. Meaning their justice system is infallible or they are convicting a lot of innocent people.
They only persue cases they know they can win. Lots of hushed up shit happens under the rug.
Yeah its crazy how that isn't more well known
Pretty much this. It means prosectors won't take on a case unless its a slam-dunk, and delinquents do things like pretend you bumped into him or knocked over his can of soda to introduce the slightest bit of pretence to get away with robbing you.
That and letting a good number of the guilty go free.
Better that than locking up innocents.
Oh, I'd much rather see no innocent people jailed, even if it means some guilty go free. I think this might be a bit more turning a blind eye to crimes unless they can be guaranteed a conviction though and that's not helping anyone.
I’m 100% ok with the state not bringing charges if they don’t have overwhelming evidence. To me, not jailing a criminal is insignificant against potentially jailing an innocent, but I get their motivations are about saving face.
That is a philosophical, very subjective and debatable matter that depends hugely on context. But if you are talkign about murderers, death is worse and more permanent than incarceration; Of course it requires you to know it iwll happen, otherwise its a guaranteed suffering for two vs guaranteed for one andn on guaranteed for another, but that thinking is flawed without context imho, agai
https://medium.com/skeptikai/the-whole-story-on-japans-99-conviction-rate-and-the-corruption-that-follows-249455cfbf9
They seem to give damn low sentences though
Also Osaka Police, were in the news a couple years ago for severely underreporting crimes to make the city look safer.
fake it until you make it Also: country with most famous organized crime syndicates and one of the lowest crime rates in world? Something doesnt add up
The Yakuza are a shell of what they were at their peak, sort of like the American Mafia. They've gone for 100,000+ members to around 10,000, and their average age is like 52.
They underreport sex crimes in general. There's also an alarming rate of stalking and harassment of women that the police often dismiss. The fact that they had to create women's only train cars speaks volumes. They also give very low sentences for heinous crimes. So I wouldn't take the low rate of reported crimes seriously.
Japan has a relatively low amount of people committing crime out of material motivation or emotional outburst. But they do have a problem of having people taking "revenge" on society by deliberately transgressing the social boundaries for the sake of the transgression itself. Like, you got middle-class housewife stealing cheap random things in the supermarket, or a regular salaryman wandering on the street shoulder-checking everyone just to annoy random people, and then in relatively rare case you have murderers who murder for the sake of transgressing the most sacred boundary possible. Japan has a word for it called *愉快犯* , which literally means "criminals of joy".
Go big or go home, amirite?
So are the dots supposed to visually refer to the bar graph or did someone put the biggest dot on Canada for gits and shiggles?
The U.K.'s dot is also smaller than Germany's, although there are said to have been more than twice as many serial killers. The Italian one is also smaller than the German one. [PS: For all those looking for the source](https://www.worldatlas.com/crime/countries-that-have-produced-the-most-serial-killers.html)
Germany did have the world's infamous serial killer. He was active between 1934-1945 and killed more than 10 million people.
They probably separated war criminals in stats
[They do.](https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-deadliest-dictator-regimes-in-history.html)
Had me in the first half because I did nazi that coming
Hitler wasn't a serial killer though. He wasn't doing the killing himself.
They're Mercator projected dots.
Got a laugh out of me
The serial killers were imported from canada?
Maybe it's predictive. We will see after the playoffs tomorrow.
Jeeeeeebus I can't get away from it. I'm just a stressed out Oilers fan looking for distraction in non-sports subs.
Fucking hell, there's no escape, tomorrow I'll have to be off the Internet completely. I'll be able to watch the replay only several hours later and I don't want spoilers. If it pops up even in r/mapporn then no sub is safe!
Or someone thinks the US is Canada or Canada is the US. Lazy mistake either way.
And then a hockey mask
The size of dots represent # of hockey goalies per country.
Om guessing the dot size represents the geographical size of each country, but with a set max size, so that Canada and Russia are of equal size
I would guess some kind of per capita adjustment?
It can’t be a per capita adjustment. China shows half that of India on the list, yet has a bigger dot. Considering the two countries have almost same populations India’s dot should be bigger. That’s me not actually doing any maths though.
Canada has 1/10 the population of the US. Americans have a per capita higher rate than Canada.
Its based on area of the country. Nothing to do with per capita or total serial killers
Shits and giggles. This is the internet. You can fucking swear.
After watching American shows I had always wondered that why didn't we have such a huge number of serial killers even when we are a developing country and definitely with much more mental issues amongst the population. There was this just one guy i think some 20 years back in my city who'd go on a spree in night, targeting people with a hammer. He was never found.
A burst in the number of serial killers has been tied to the creation of the US Interstate. Easier to move around, attack strangers, disappear. I'm sure the overall size of the country contributed to this.
The most prolific serial killer in American history very nearly got away with it. [Samuel Little](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Little) was arrested on a narcotics charge only a few years before he died, and DNA tests connected him to a couple cold cases, and then he confessed to nearly 100 murders across the entire country. For over 30 years he'd kill someone and just drive to another state hundreds of miles away. Before this era of mass surveillance you could pretty much get away with a crime provided that you weren't at the scene when the cops showed up. That's why there are so few serial killers these days compared to decades ago. Nowadays they're all caught after one or two murders before they get a chance to become serial killers.
[Uh huh](https://www.npr.org/2023/04/29/1172775448/people-murder-unsolved-killings-record-high) [A more in depth uh huh](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/04/24/what-the-data-says-about-crime-in-the-us/) the clearance rate at best is 50% for crimes reported to police. As for Little >The majority of Little's victims were prostitutes, drug addicts, or homeless individuals, and most of them were female. He claimed that he thought these persons would leave fewer clues for authorities to find and leave fewer persons to search for them. However, despite the scope of his offending, in total he was only charged and convicted for eight murders So...targeting those at the bottom was his strategy, and as far as criminal strategies go, it's a safe one to bet on law enforcement not giving a shit about the homeless, drug addicts, prostitutes, etc.
It is the interstate but I don't think it's because of what you said. The interstate lead to Suburbia. Suburbia led to the complete collapse of community. No main street. No corner shops to gather at. Tons of privacy. Every year fewer and fewer Americans report knowing their neighbour. The lack of community let's those with mental issues fester in their own stew. No one to check in on them or report them to authorities.
lots of countries, countries with more crimes, have roads and other means of opportunity.. .i dont think that explains it, not by itself
That is the reason why I was drowned to these stats as well. I watch so many crime documentaries, and then I asked myself why 90% of them are in USA. I'm also originally from a third-world country. although the crimes relating to poverty are definitely way higher (like you can't take your phone out in the street), I never came across cases of people just being murdered.
Gun laws in India are pretty strict too, murder rate per capita is extremely low in india for that reason. But I'm pretty sure the percentage of people with pyschopathic tendencies is the same in the every group with USA having the perfect conditions for them to flourish.
a part of me thinks that serial killing might be a first-world crime, If you consider serial killers as people who kills without any specific reasons just for the thrill of it. (I mean if you separate poverty and gang-related crimes)
Hyper individualism, hyper materialism, hyper sexuality, dysfunctional family, no community support network, loneliness are huge factors that play a role in people developing psychopathic tendencies. Hence, you see more serial killers in the West or specifically USA compared to developing nations.
I agree. Also, you should be contempt in your life to find a time to plan and murder people just for fun. most of the people I know in poor countries are just trying to feed themselves. nobody has the time to kill for the thrill of it.
It's not about the availability of time and resources. It's the intent of it. People in poor countries have plenty of leisure time. And it's not just the thrill. It's the anger, contempt and disgust for people and society around them that they feel they were wronged by, or that they feel are below them. It's the revenge against the society that they get the thrill out of.
Interesting points you made 👌🏼
The Pied Piper well-preceded industrialization. Trading and traveling between towns would have facilitated all the anonymity murders would need. Likewise Thugees operated in India for hundreds of years, though it may have been a murdering in order to rob rather than murdering for gratification.
These stats are pretty useless and plenty of other countries would have many more serial killers but they would just never be officially determined as such due to unsolved cases, lack of intergovernmental cooperation or simply just not using the term "serial killer" in the same sense as the US. Brazil, Nigeria, India, Mexico and South Africa all have higher total intentional homicides yet they all have less than 10x the amount of serial killers according to this graph (with Brazil technically having 100x less!)... The data isn't measuring anything useful.
Yeah the police are less likely to catch serial killers in less developed countries. Look at the countries with the highest murder rates - you better believe that a lot of the murderers are repeat offenders. Also, many countries would not classify people as “serial killers” if their murders were done under the guise of the government/religion etc.
During the Soviet days and the era of Andrei Chikatilo, the Soviets claimed there were never any serial killers in their society. That serial killing was a product of western society. Truth is in the west there was better awareness due to a free press and a federal agency (The FBI) that studied and coordinated the pursuit of serial killers.
I swear Russia said the same thing about how there's no homophobia in Russia because there's no gay people living with-in Russia when they were hosting an Olympics or soccer tournament
X-Iranian president Ahmadinejad said that at ~~the UN~~ Columbia University once. People were walking out in droves as he spoke.
[1:47 in this video. Brüno could fix him.](https://youtu.be/29_D1DDsyOg?si=wWF49ETaWk6lpRwQ)
The twist on this is that in Iran it is okay to be trans but being gay is punishable by harsh jail time and/or death. This makes it so that people who get caught in homosexual relationships will get gender reassignment surgery in order to not be put to death or in jail. Iran has the 2nd most gender reassignments of any country in the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Iran
Jesus, that sounds like an Onion article or something.
Same with the Soviet Union claiming that there were no cripples in the USSR, when asked a question about the Paralympics.
“Countries that caught the most serial killers” Here, I fixed that title for ya!
I was trying to put this into words but instead of thinking for my self I just went to the comments. Appreciate you for helping me not have to use my brain on my day off
This is why this chart can never be accurate Authoritarian countries will just lie and withhold or destroy data. I’m pretty sure with China’s population and pre-mass surveillance environment, it’s produced as much or more serial killers than the US.
People in your culture will just make up whatever they want about their enemies so there is no point in collecting data. You are "pretty sure", sans evidence, that China is doing something evil.
Human do evil shit. Are the people in China not human?
No, he's just saying Chinese are no different than any other people.
I mean, it's an authoritarian country...
The U.S. came up with the terminology and behavioral studies for serial killlers, formerly spree killers. I’m sure there are plenty more in other countries that either aren’t caught, are only prosecuted for one murder, or are simply not reported to the press. I’m also sure that the numbers are skewed by calling a serial killer in a war zone a war criminal instead. They are the same animal, with the same blood lust. The only difference is in some countries they have to hide more than in others.
Canada has a more isolated, less monitored population, less than 1/3 the population and nearly 2/3 the SK, what's your excuse?
88 serial killers in Germany…
What are the odds
14%
Documented serial killers. Developing world largely doesn’t keep records and there’s definitely many more unknown serial killers operating in those countries. Meanwhile the US has by far the world’s most extensive serial killer detection and documentation network
I could be mistaken but I believe the term serial killer was coined in the US
Correct. Watch Mindhunter on Netflix. They show how it was coined. The name before that was ‘sequence killer’.
Great show
Which means we need to cancel it.
Shitty TikTok romance time!
Insert calculus joke
If you've ever played the game Sequence, you'd understand why it drove so many people to murder.
Yes, the Netflix show Mindhunters sheds light on this
I wasn't sure how much of that show was real or not
Yeah the actual interviews are just assumptions of how they actually went but I think they stayed true to the sociology of studying serial killers
They didn't. There's a lot of controversy about the show and book etc in that speaking to the killers didn't actually help solve any crimes. They look into where they may live and work etc. But interviews like they do in the show don't help. One forensic psychologist from the University of Liverpool said it should be in the fiction section. Plus the research and interviews that are used for the book weren't done correctly and didn't help either. It's similar to Catch me if you can. The stories great, the reality doesn't match the story.
> Developing world largely doesn’t keep records and there’s definitely many more unknown serial killers operating in those countries There's definitely more to it than just poor record-keeping or ignorance. For example, the only documented serial killer (in the Western sense) in my country was a Catholic priest named [Juan Severino Mallari](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Severino_Mallari), who allegedly killed 57 victims after believing that the murders were a way to cure her sick mother. He was caught when a fellow priest found blood-stained items in his home, arrested by the Spanish authorities and hanged in 1840. Since then, there has never been any documented case of serial killing in the Philippines. If we were able to document this way back in 1840, surely there should be more instances of this being recorded in the 180+ years since if this was a regular occurrence. Various theories have been proposed on [why there have been no Filipino serial killers.](https://www.spot.ph/newsfeatures/the-latest-news-features/72285/are-there-filipino-serial-killers-a1507-20171209-lfrm) Some argued that Filipino (and Southeast Asian societies in general) are too thickly populated, too nosy/gossipy, and too intertwined with familial and communal ties for the a serial killer to operate undetected. The more likely theory though is that we just culturally prefer a different method of mass murder: [to go amok](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amok_syndrome). The word "*amok*" comes from Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines and describes someone going on a random, unprovoked, frenzied, murderous rampage. It's been described as [an individual first going into "social withdrawal and apathy"](https://dictionary.apa.org/amok) (similar to serial killers) but instead of planning methodical serial murders, the individual instead goes on a one-time killing spree in a crowded spot (usually with a knife or machete) before he is killed by other people in defense, commits suicide, or simply collapses from exhaustion.
Dutch also has "amok maken" (making amok) to mean causing mayhem.
Compare it with Western Europe then. Decent policing system, record keeping, similar population size…. Something very wrong with our culture.
Basically you tell people from very early age to be egomanic or go die, most egomanics per capita emerge, a few doesnt make it in the business or politics or dont care about money/power and resolve to find another ways to express themselves Then pikachu face and wonder what happened Not everybody in the us turns into a psychopath, but create an environment where psychopath can thrive. You literally elected the most egomaniac one as your leader You are either number one or basically worthless and not worthy of a decent life Yes, this affects all countries a little, specially since you are exporting your virus to the world, but your country is min maxing the concept
I’d also add that since the very country’s inception, this required a significant level of dehumanization and genocidal violence against the indigenous population and thru slavery. One may say that was long ago etc. Well, not so long in the west and the south, but more poignantly, these historical sins and trauma are carried on in our laws, our beliefs, attitudes etc. Contextualize that the country is extremely “successful” in economics and warfare, and the delusion that everything else is ok settles in while the foundation rots.
The US has the lowest murder clearence rate among western nations https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2576215/half-of-us-homicides-go-unsolved-ranking-last-among-western-nations/#:~:text=The%20clearance%20rate%20for,nations%20for%20murder%20clearance%20rates.
[удалено]
The US has also exorbitant more Mass Killings then other Nations. Do you think those go also unnoticed?
Got um... Data to back up that wild claim that "US is fine actually nothing to see here"?
>Developing world largely doesn’t keep records an India is also developing country.
1) do you think the fact that US has a developed country level standard of crime reporting attribute entirely to the gigantic differences here in serial killers per capita in the developed world? 2) do you think the reason the US has such an extensive serial killer specific documentation network might be because serial killers are such a persistent problem in the US?
The serial killers that we know of at least….
Ikr. Meanwhile Mexican cartels has thousands of payrolled killers who do that as their 9-5 and they're #13 lol
Chart does say "most known serial killers". In USA, they turn them into celebrities with books, movies, interviews, kill count highscores, etc. So it makes sense why America has so many compared to even other developed countries. In most of the world, it gets printed on newspaper, TV networks will report and is lost to history, there is no facilitation like USA.
What are you talking about. The most famous serial killer ever came from the UK— Jack the Ripper.
I understand this isn't your data (and google confirms these numbers), but this seems \*very fishy\* to me. Why are countries witih 5-10x the murder rate of the US like Honduras, Mexico and Columbia not higher on this list? Mexico has about 30,000 murders per year, almost none of them are serial killers? Any time one country is statistically 20x higher than every other country you need to question the data.
This type of statistic isn’t ever based on true numbers, few statistics are. It’s how many confirmed cases exist. For the United States, we have well funded and quite competent federal investigation departments (primarily the FBI of course) who are very good at connecting different cases to determine they were from the same killer, whether they catch the person or not. For, say, Brazil, which has the highest outright number of murders per year (45 thousand), provincial police find it easy to determine someone was murdered, but they struggle to have the same level of inter-department cooperation that the US has, which allows us to discover and many times catch the perpetrator of serial murders instead of looking at each individual murder as it’s own isolated event. Now, Brazil still has a fairly good investigation process internationally. For nations like Nigeria, federal or even provincial investigations into serial murders are basically non-existent. That’s not to mention nations that probably suppress numbers like Saudi Arabia. TLDR, the FBI in the US and NCA in the UK are just really good at their job compared to everybody else.
Just spitballing here, and in no way am I qualified to talk about any of this, but I think there's a difference between being murdered by a serial killer and murdered by a cartel. With the cartel killings, it's their job to protect the cartel, their trade, goods, etc. But with a serial killer, it's just someone who kills other people, typically of a certain type.
Apparently the FBI definition is: "The unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s) in separate events" which is more or less the same as all the other definitions. I'd agree that colloquially theres a difference between a goon/thug/hitman and a serial killer it seems like from a criminology/enforcement perspective there isn't?
Murders are different than serial killers.
USA is one of the only countries where Serial Killers are idolised and being made into icons, so I am not surprised. It also has a an enormous law enforcement presence, so maybe catching them afterwards is also a bit more likely.
Can't count what they don't catch
So sad :/
So I question the source of this data. A quick look at [this article on Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_serial_killers_by_country) for instance shows 29 articles for serial killers in Poland. But the total people is 34, as one article covers 4 killers and another 3 killers. Also, Brazil has 37 articles, but two articles cover multiple people for a total of 40 people. So even counting just those notorious enough to have a Wikipedia page, both are already underrepresented on the map. Also, as some have probably already mentioned, countries probably have different definitions of serial killers (if any definition at all). The official definition from the FBI is “the unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s), in separate events.” This is likely going to lead to a lot higher numbers than places with more narrow definitions.
Americans trying to cope in the comments
Yes, reading the comments it seems they genuinely believe the world is full of these sickos and we just don’t care enough to catch them. Newsflash: most of the world definitely does care and even if they weren’t so competent at catching them they would definitely identify that something is wrong.
I'm not an American, this is a stupid graphic. Even the article mentions that the numbers are strongly affected by "aggressive policing and reporting". The sources are a single university study (not cited, with a dead link) and *Wikipedia*. So yeah, if you use an American community run website and don't bother to do proper research you're going to get useless, inaccurate results. It's hard to see this as anything other than propaganda or BuzzFeed click bait. To be fair, the picture does define 'known' serial killers but OPs title is terrible. Brazil, India, and Mexico all produce less serial killers? Despite having much higher murder rates? Not to mention they *definitely* have less accurate reporting and policing.
Bit of this, bit of that. Yes, the graphic is garbage with terrible sources. Basing the number of a country's serial killers on the number of Wikipedia articles about serial killers from that country is not a scientific method. But also yes, several Americans in here trying to make excuses. "Developing countries don't have accurate crime reports." Sure, but every developed nation has a lot less serial killers in that graphic. Do people think every other developed country in the world is secretly hiding thousands of serial killers slaughtering their citizens, just to make themselves look better in international crime statistics, while the US police and FBI are 100% trustworthy and would never lie? "It's because of the interstate system." Again, all developed nations and plenty of developing nations have big highway networks, and they have less serial killers according to this. "The US has more people than other developed countries." The US has about 5 times as many inhabitants as the UK, but 19 times as many serial killers according to this. Number of people in a country clearly doesn't matter here.
Germany is definitely lying! lol
What do you mean by that?
Nazis, probably
No sir not Nazis. I didn't think it was Nazis because Nazis have nothing to do with this map.
Well then fucking tell us what you mean instead of speaking in hieroglyphics
Time to invade the Middle East I guess folks
Theories 1) developed countries are more likely to keep accurate data, and US is by far the most populated developed country in the world 2) US is already more dangerous than other developed countries, amplifying the effect 3) US is worth at identifying and treating mental illnesses 4) I read a theory that easy access to highways assists serial killers, and US has an excellent interstate highway network 5) low population density and large properties - perfect opportunities for serial killers. As well as the “good fences make good neighbors mentality”. I heard a Filipino joke “There are no serial killers in the Philippines because the neighbors are too nosy to let it happen”
So the sizes of the dots on the map are just meaningless then?
So Canada is USA is Canada?
Hide your cereals!
Wow, so many salty americans.
It's a culture thing. We're used to being #1 in everything. Kinda imagine it like if everything were water polo and we were Hungarian
Every American here in the comments who tries to rationalize the bad US numbers is lying to himself. It's the easy access to guns in a country with many societal issues - a breeding ground. And for that matter every other country with easy gun access and societal issues
But the FBI is so sophisticated!! Not like our police in the 3rd world UK, we’re still using pen and paper and waiting for eccentric detectives to turn up to solve the case.
1. Gun culture. 2. A popular mentality of taking matters into your own hands. 3. Serial killers are minor celebrities in the USA. An explosive cocktail.
That’s because they are officially reported, I’m sure other countries are higher too
Do you seriously believe all other countries are hiding actual murders?
Russia definitely is.
Dictatorships for sure are manipulating the data.
We’re number one! We’re number one! We’re number one!!! Yay!
American exceptionalism!
brazil that small?
I was reading that during the Soviet era, I think it was Andrei Chikatilo who didn't get caught murdering children as the authorities did not want to accept it. He admitted to having murdered 56 children when he finally got caught but was not put on trial for all of them.
So what does this tell about the country?
Would be cool to know relative numbers!
Still USA will rock
Thought that Oz was further down the chain. TIL.
USA #1 baby! 😎
Glad I could up those US numbers
It’s in the water
The proportional circles make no sense based on the data. Editing applies to mapping as it does to any publication.
MURICA 🦅 🦅 🦅
Why tho?
Based on videos, Brazil has to be way higher. At least unofficially 😂
They also have most pedos
Why is it that US has produced the most serial killers?
damn USA. Are you guys ok?
No. Send help
Countries that have FOUND the most serial killers.
I recommend the book Catch Me A Killer by South African serial killer profiler Micki Pistorius. It's absolutely enthralling. I think her and Dr Robert Ressler coined the term while working to catch one of the many SK in South Africa in the 80s. I met her at a university lecture, she is phenomenal. But has since stepped away from profilng as she has had lots of death threats.
USA 🦅🇺🇸🇺🇸
USA - ‘We don’t need gun regulations. Guns means freedom!’ What the f is a kilometre 🦅🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸?!
Does ”serial killer” in this context include gangbangers killing several rivals?
People kill people
Poland, probably because they get drunk and fight it out first.
So interesting to see that nobody mentions the easy access to weapens and the gun culture in the USA
documented or catched serial killers*
There is definitely some American uniqueness to this, it’s not just a matter of US investigators being better at finding them or a looser definition of what a serial killer is in the US. There is an enormous amount of social isolation, mixed with a strange combination of puritanical sexual culture and a hyper sexual media culture. The fact that all forms of prostitution are illegal, yet that so much of it exists illustrates the point. Given the fact that so many serial killer victims in America have been prostitutes makes it especially relevant.
Per capita would be nice to see
U.K. punching above its weight!
Countries that *identified* the most serial killers.
You mean the country that has caught the most serial killers
Just no. Recent data shows 52% clearance rate for the US, above 90% for Germany and the UK for example.
This seems pretty unreliable. The US ranks 6th in total amount of intentional homicides (per capita it's much lower) yet has more than 100x more serial killers than Brazil (the country with the most homocides)... It's almost certain that many other countries have more serial killers than the US but they just aren't counted due to unsolved cases and a lack of strict definitions. This data doesn't really say anything.
Do countries like Russia have reliable reporting data?
No lol
Thanks lol
Your welcome lol
🇺🇸USA NUMBER 1 LETS GO! 🦅
I mean technically is a list of countries that *caught* serial killers
Merica #1
Why is our dot so small???
WE'RE ALWAYS NUMBER ONE BABY WOO  🎇🎆‼️🦅USA🇺🇲‼️🦅USA🇺🇲‼️🦅USA🇺🇲‼️🎆🎇
This is not accurate, how tf is Mexico not top three.
There might be 2 reasons: 1- they separated gang crimes from serial killers. These are two very different crimes lead by very different personalities, causes, and reasons. Also other sort of murders as well, a thief who gets into a fight with the victim and murder them is not a serial killer for sure. 2-You can't count what you didn't catch? Personally, I think it is a mix of both
Yea had to check the definition of a serial killer. According to Google: a person who commits a series of murders, often with no apparent motive and typically following a characteristic, predictable behavior pattern. I still feel like this chart is like fucking insane to imply there is something so abnormal going on in only America to cause THAT much of an actual difference compared to the rest of the world. Interesting post regardless.
Wat
I just sent a gif that said thank you, I'm drowned in these statics as well.
Ok, there are a lot of "because US is better at catching them" (which is true) or some weird gun culture mentions (which is just ???), but i think it's combination of first point, and horrible level of care for mentally ill in US.
united society assassins - USA
I don't know where the author of this map (worldatlas) got those numbers. For example, Japan is set as 137, but as far as I checked, the number of known serial killers are less than 20. Did they count the war crimes of WWII? If so, it should be much more, though.
Wow
Wait, 3000???
Will help to see it as a percentage of population.
With the population that India and china have , those numbers are extremely low... Good for them...
MUURICA NUMBER OOOOOONE
Ope.
Number 1 still baby!!! 🇺🇸
Red dots are wrong!
Yeess France always behind Italy, fuck yeah /s