What country has the lowest gun violence rate 2025
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Executive summary
Available international rankings show several small, high‑income countries with extremely low firearm death rates; among countries commonly cited for the lowest gun‑death rates are Singapore and several Western European nations, while U.S. states with the lowest rates in recent data include Massachusetts (3.7 per 100,000 in 2023), New Jersey (4.6), New York (4.7), Rhode Island (4.8) and Hawaii (4.9) [1] [2] [3]. Global compilations list extremes from El Salvador (42.3 per 100k) to countries with effectively negligible rates such as Singapore (described as “about 1 in about five million” in the World Population Review dataset) [2].
1. What the sources actually measure — different definitions, different worlds
“Gun violence” is not a single metric across these sources. U.S.-focused work (Pew Research Center using CDC and FBI files) reports total gun‑death rates that include homicides, suicides and other categories and ranks states by deaths per 100,000 people [1]. Global lists such as WorldPopulationReview separate firearm homicides, suicides and accidental shootings and present per‑100,000 and per‑capita counts that are age‑standardized, producing very different country rankings than single‑category homicide counts [2]. Always check whether the figure is total firearm deaths, firearm homicides only, or an age‑standardized rate before comparing places [2] [1].
2. Who shows the lowest rates — small wealthy states and low‑ownership countries
In U.S. state rankings, Pew’s 2023 data shows Massachusetts at 3.7 firearm deaths per 100,000 — the lowest among states — followed by New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Hawaii [1]. Internationally, WorldPopulationReview’s compilation highlights extremes: the highest per‑100k is El Salvador (42.3) while the lowest examples include Singapore, described as roughly “1 in about five million” by that dataset [2]. These low‑rate jurisdictions tend to be small, have strict gun laws and low civilian gun ownership [2] [4].
3. Policies and ownership matter in the data, but causation is contested
Policy‑focused groups (Everytown, Giffords) assert that stronger gun laws correlate with lower gun death rates and point to states with strong policy frameworks having fewer deaths [4] [5]. Everytown notes, for example, Rhode Island’s low gun deaths are tied in part to very low ownership and surrounding‑state policy buffers [4]. Giffords’ scorecard concludes the same pattern: states with stronger laws have fewer gun deaths [5]. Opposing or qualifying viewpoints are present in reporting that attribute declines to multiple factors — policing strategies, post‑pandemic normalizing trends and local interventions — showing complexity beyond single‑policy explanations [6] [7].
4. Recent trends: declines complicate simple rankings
Multiple independent monitors reported substantial declines in U.S. gun deaths in 2024–2025. Pew documents falling totals into 2023 and ranked low‑rate states using the most recent CDC data available to it [1]. Gun Violence Archive and other trackers recorded dramatic drops in 2025 overall — Newsweek cited 13,821 fatalities and 24,968 injuries for 2025 from the GVA, a substantial fall from the 2021 peak [8]. Journalists and researchers point to a multi‑year decline since the 2022–2023 spike, which affects relative rankings and year‑to‑year comparisons [7] [8].
5. Beware cross‑country comparisons without standardization
Directly comparing a U.S. state rate (per 100,000) to a small country’s absolute counts or a country’s age‑standardized rate misleads. WorldPopulationReview warns that age‑standardization and differing category definitions can create “illusory incongruities” between per‑100k rates and other measures [2]. Statista, summarizing Everytown’s work, lists Rhode Island as an especially low state rate in 2024 (3.1 per 100,000 in one table) — but methodologies differ across datasets [9].
6. Bottom line and guidance for readers
If your question is strictly “which country has the lowest gun‑violence rate in 2025?” current compilations point to very low rates in places like Singapore and some Western European states, though the exact leader depends on whether you use total firearm deaths, homicides only, or age‑standardized measures [2]. If you mean “which U.S. state” the most recent Pew analysis shows Massachusetts at the bottom of U.S. state rates in 2023 (3.7 per 100,000) with New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Hawaii also among the lowest [1]. Available sources do not offer a single, universally agreed “lowest in 2025” country because datasets use different definitions and update on different schedules — check the methodology before treating one list as definitive [2] [1].
Limitations: This summary uses the supplied sources only; no other databases were consulted. Where methodology or year differs between sources, that divergence is noted [2] [1].