How do overall homicide rate trends compare to knife-specific homicide trends in the US, Canada, and the UK over the last decade?
Executive summary
Across the last decade overall homicide trends and knife-specific homicide trends have moved differently in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom: the US shows high overall homicide rates driven largely by firearms while knife homicides remain a minority share, England and Wales have experienced long-term falls in overall homicide but a persistent and relatively high share of killings by sharp instrument, and Canada’s comparative picture is under-documented in the supplied reporting making definitive decade-long statements difficult [1] [2] [3]. Global and regional summaries warn that knife use as a proportion of homicides is higher in Europe than in North America and that knife-related violence has generally risen since around 2014, but that global and regional patterns do not equal uniform national trends [2].
1. United States — higher overall homicide driven by guns; knives a smaller, steady slice
The United States’ overall homicide rate remains substantially higher than many peer countries, illustrated by a reported 5.7 homicides per 100,000 population in recent reporting, and the country’s homicides are dominated by firearms rather than knives [1] [2]. Statista’s compilation indicates roughly 1,562 murders by knife in a recent year even as firearms account for the bulk of US homicides, consistent with the broader regional point that in North America firearms cause roughly three quarters of homicides while knives account for less than 20% [1] [2]. The supplied sources do not give a detailed year-by-year US knife-homicide time series over the last decade, so while firearms are clearly the main driver of fluctuations in the US homicide total, the exact trajectory of knife-specific homicides year-to-year within the last ten years cannot be fully reconstructed from these documents [1] [4].
2. United Kingdom — falling overall homicide but a high and visible role for knives
England and Wales have far fewer homicides today than the peak in the early 2000s, but sharp instruments remain the single most common method: recent Home Office / Commons Library figures report roughly 262 homicides involving a sharp instrument in one year and that sharp instruments were used in about 46% of 570 homicides in 2023/24, with earlier Office for National Statistics figures putting the share near 41% for year ending March 2023 [3] [5] [6]. Research by the UK Home Office and academic reviews identify only a few long-term turning points in national homicide trends over the 20th and early 21st centuries, noting a downward turn from 2002 but also observing that the use of sharp instruments has been a persistent feature and contributed to recent peaks in some local areas [7]. Multiple sources therefore present a nuanced picture: overall homicide counts are lower than two decades ago, but knives account for an unusually large proportion of those killings in the UK compared with North America [7] [2].
3. Canada — comparable totals but reporting gaps prevent a strong decade-long claim
The provided materials offer comparative summaries and databases that include Canada but do not supply a clear, consistent year-by-year narrative of Canada’s knife-specific versus overall homicide trends over the last decade; summary comparison tools list Canada’s homicide indicators alongside the UK but stop short of trend decomposition by weapon across ten years in the supplied excerpts [8] [2]. Given that North America overall is characterized by stronger firearm involvement than Europe [2], Canada is likely to have a different weapon profile than the UK, but confirmation and precise trend statements for Canada over the last decade cannot be fully supported from the reporting provided here [2] [8].
4. Comparative takeaway and reporting caveats
Across these sources the clearest comparative facts are that Europe shows a higher proportion of homicides by knife than North America (knives near 40% of European homicides versus under 20% in North America) and that knife-related violence has been flagged as rising globally since about 2014, but national pictures differ: the US’s overall homicide trajectory is heavily shaped by firearms, the UK’s overall homicide count has fallen since the early 2000s while knives remain a major method, and Canada lacks detailed weapon-specific trend exposition in the supplied snippets [2] [7] [1] [3]. Reporting and policy debates sometimes amplify knife incidents because they are visible and politically salient—particularly in the UK—so media attention can skew perceptions compared with the underlying share of homicides or longer-term national trends; the sources include both statistical briefs and analytical research that reflect those competing emphases [6] [7]. Finally, differences in recording, categorization and source (police vs public health vs UNODC compilations) mean cross-country comparisons require caution and the supplied documentation contains explicit caveats about comparability and under-reporting [9].