I just find it hypocritical of Americans to say don’t go overseas it is dangerous when the ******* rate in America is one of the highest in the world, and yes that us proportional. In 2009 there were 15,241 murders in the USA, over 9000 using firearms, while in the UK that year there were 39. USA Population is around 300 million, in the UK it is around 60 million, so if you divide your murders by 5 you have 3048 murders to our 39 in proportional times. I don’t think your ******* rate better.
The difference in America is the easy availability of guns. You have the ‘right to bear arms’. In the UK you can own guns but you ‘don’t have the right to own guns.’ Your laws protect those who want to own guns, not the people who get shot by frequent gun use on the streets.
I said South Africa was not a place to go to. SA has become westernised on the American model and gun use is common. Their population is around 60 million but there ******* rate is a fairly regular 17,000 a year so don’t go there.
Your ******* rate works out at 5.9 per 100,000. Compare that with some other African countries per 100,000: Morocco 0.5; Algeria 1.5; Egypt 0.7; as you head south it starts to rise e.g. Uganda 7.3; Ghana 11.6, Mozambique 202; SA 39.5.
African figures are harder to come by as these are countries that have bigger problems and counting numbers is a luxury they don’t usually have the resources to, nor do their rulers want publicity. Uganda is at 7.3 but is still fighting a guerrilla war. Mozambique has ended its civil strife and making progress but has hangovers.
I cannot imagine any tourist would go to a known trouble spot and any police officer will tell you that ******* is usually personal/family/work, and often criminal on criminal. In Africa it is very often tribal, or political. It is not usually directed at passing tourists, especially not white people. Most countries just to be sure provide resort with extra security so they are even safer.
As you will have found with you aids research it is difficult to get the figures. You appear to have old figures for Uganda that country is being hailed as one of the ‘Aids’ success stories with the dramatic reduction in Aids figures for that country which has seen its incidence to be now lower per 100,000 than in the US.
I have been to many countries and I have been to the USA a number of times, and on the assumption that people don’t plan to visit a civil war, I maintain Africa is generally safer than America, even assuming tourists would not visit certain areas of LA..