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http://www.sify.com/news/lithuania-n...baaygfdbh.htmlVilnius: You are more likely to be murdered in the Baltic state of Lithuania than anywhere else in the European Union, according to figures released on Tuesday by the EU's official statistics agency, Eurostat.
In a report on crime trends over recent years, Lithuania saw an average 8.76 murders per 100,000 heads of population every year during the period 2002-8, Eurostat said, making Lithuania the EU's murder capital by some margin.
Another Baltic state, Estonia, recorded the second-highest level with 6.6 murders per 100,000 residents. Complete data was not available for the third Baltic state, Latvia, but incomplete figures suggested a similar rate to that of Estonia.
'The figures suggest that Lithuania and Estonia have by far the highest incidence of homicides ... The only other countries reporting more than two cases a year per hundred thousand population were Finland, Bulgaria, Scotland, Romania, the Czech Republic and Ireland,' Eurostat reported.
The lowest murder rates were observed in Austria, Slovenia and Germany, all of which had less than one homicide per 100,000 of population.
Lithuania's capital Vilnius ranked first in terms of homicide statistics among EU capital cities with 8.28 murders per 100,000 residents, followed by Tallinn in Estonia with 6.04 and Luxembourg with 3.98.
On a more positive note, Lithuania was also amongst the EU states that saw one of the largest drops in levels of violent crime during the same period.
If the statistics are true and Lithuania has such a dramatically higher homicide rate, what are the reasons?
I mean even Romania has a MUCH, MUCH smaller rate for murder and that with an economy not much better off and a huge number of Gypsies, making up a large portion of the criminal activities for example.
So my question, especially to "the regionals", what are the reasons, in your opinion, for the extremely high homicide rates? Or do you even doubt the numbers? Faked statistics?
Is it about locals or immigrants?
Drugs and alcohol?
The lack of a social system and security? Because in the Western countries, those with the most inequal social and economic systems, lack of social security and massive foreign, non-integrable immigration, are those with relatively higher crime and homicide rates - though none of them comes even close to the homicide-rates in the Baltic states it seems.
What are the reasons in your opinion and what's to do to change that?
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