Tallinn Has High Per Capita Rate of Homicide
Following Vilnius, Tallinn had the second highest percentage of homicides among the capital cities of the European Union, according to a study by Eurostat.
The Estonian capital, population 416,000, averaged an annual 6 homicides per 100,000 city dwellers, compared to 7.9 in Vilnius. Statistics for Riga were not provided because the Latvian statistics agency bunches homicides and attempted murders in the same category. Estonia's northern neighbor, Helsinki, had just 1.7 homicides per 100,000.
The Baltic states were followed by the well-to-do Benelux countries. Luxembourg had the third highest rate of homicides, with 4.2 per 100,000, followed by Amsterdam and Brussels.
Meanwhile, Budapest had one of the smallest proportional rates of homicides (1.5), second only to Malta, where no homicides were reported during the three-year study. The study was conducted from 2007 to 2009.
Ott Tammik