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Which countries have the highest rates of political assassination attempts?
Executive summary
Global data on which countries have the highest rates of political assassination attempts is not compiled in the provided sources; available reporting focuses heavily on a recent surge of political violence and assassination attempts in the United States, including multiple high‑profile incidents in 2024–2025 such as two attempts on former President Donald Trump and the September 2025 killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk [1][2][3]. Sources document dozens or hundreds of politically motivated violent acts in the U.S. since January 6, 2021, and experts and government statements warn of an escalation domestically [1][3][4].
1. U.S. coverage dominates — but it’s not a global ranking
Most documents in the search results catalog incidents inside the United States (assassination attempts on Trump, the killing of Charlie Kirk, attacks on state officials) and assess trends there; none of the provided pieces produce an international list or per‑country rates that would identify which countries have the highest rates of political assassination attempts, so a direct global ranking cannot be produced from these sources [1][2][3][5].
2. What the U.S. reporting actually measures: incidents, not normalized rates
Reporting cited here counts incidents and high‑profile cases: Reuters recorded “more than 300 cases of politically motivated violent acts” since January 6, 2021, and Reuters and other outlets describe roughly 150 politically motivated attacks in the first half of a recent year — figures of events, not per‑capita rates or attempts per political class, so they show scope but not a comparative international intensity [1][3].
3. Recent U.S. spike: examples and official reaction
Examples frequently cited in U.S. reporting include two assassination attempts on Donald Trump in 2024, the murder of Charlie Kirk in September 2025, attacks on Minnesota lawmakers, an arson at a governor’s residence, and plots or violent acts targeting multiple officials across years; the White House and independent experts have characterized these as part of rising domestic political violence and called for national strategies to counter organized political violence [1][6][4][5].
4. Explanation offered by experts and officials
Criminologists and national security officials attribute the rise in politically motivated killings and attempts to a mix of increasing political polarization, inflammatory rhetoric, economic and demographic anxieties, and organized networks that elevate violence as a tactic. The White House memo explicitly links recent acts to organized political violence and calls for investigative and disruption strategies [7][3][4].
5. Disagreement and political framing in sources
Coverage shows disagreement over causes and who to blame: political figures frame incidents to suit partisan narratives (e.g., calls to blame “radical left” or warnings of escalating rhetoric), and polling finds a majority of Americans expect political violence to increase — illustrating how interpretation of the same incidents is contested across the political spectrum [8][9]. The White House document presents one policy framing (designating groups, national strategy) while other analysts emphasize social and media dynamics [4][10].
6. Limits of the available reporting and where it falls short
The provided sources do not include cross‑national datasets, per‑capita comparisons, or peer‑reviewed studies that would allow ranking countries by assassination‑attempt rates; they focus on U.S. events and domestic policy responses. For a true international answer you would need databases that systematically collect political assassination attempts across countries and years and normalize by population and political exposure — such sources are not present in the material supplied (not found in current reporting).
7. Practical next steps and sources to obtain a global view
To produce a credible international ranking, seek global datasets (academic studies, international terrorism databases, or long‑running assassination chronologies) that record attempted and successful politically motivated killings by country and year and allow per‑capita or per‑officeholder normalization. The current sources suggest the U.S. is experiencing an acute and well‑documented spike in 2024–2025, but they cannot answer which countries “have the highest rates” globally (not found in current reporting; U.S. surge documented in p1_s7)[3][2].
Closing note: The supplied reporting is authoritative on recent U.S. trends and incidents — including government concern, documented attempts on a former president, and high‑profile murders — but it does not support an evidence‑based international ranking of assassination‑attempt rates without additional, cross‑national data [1][3][4].