Legett, Ted. 2008 ‘Serbia.’ Crime and Its Impact on the Balkans; Figure 32, p. 39. Vienna: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). 1 March

Relevant contents

Serbia

Homicides in Serbia appear to have been in decline for some time. From peaks in 1994 and 1997, the [reported] murder rate has dropped by two thirds. Official figures from the last three years are unbelievably low, with fewer than 100 murders in 2006, giving Serbia a rate of less than one murder per 100,000 citizens.

Murder rates in the province of Kosovo have also been in decline, dropping by 75% in five years. Based on population projections from a 2001 estimate made by OSCE (2.4 million), the police recorded rate today is under three per 100,000.

As in Albania, there may be some under-reporting, and according to the 2007 Progress Report on Kosovo by the European Commission, "The format and the content of key crime data are inconsistent at regional and central level." But the Kosovo Police Service is receiving highly competent help from international experts, and it is unlikely that many murders are missed, given the proliferation of security personnel.

If anything, the rate of under-capture should be declining, meaning the nominal decline could actually be concealing an even more dramatic decrease.

Figure 32: Intentional homicides in Serbia 2004-2006 [rate per 100,000 population]

1997: 3.00
1998: 2.40
1999: 1.95
2000: 1.99
2001: 2.03
2002: 1.66
2003: 1.48
2004: 1.34
2005: 1.41
2006: 0.95

[Source= Serbian Ministry of the Interior]

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