Opinion: The Deadliest Global City

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Among what are considered Alpha world cities, Chicago has the highest murder rate — higher even than the Third World metropolises of Mexico City and Sao Paolo.

Here’s how we rank in murders per 100,000 among cities we consider our peers, based on a projected murder total of 505 for this year.

Singapore 0.4
Tokyo   0.5
Hong Kong 0.6
Berlin     1.0
Sydney    1.0
London 1.4
Toronto  1.7
Amsterdam 1.8
Paris       4.4
New York 6.0
Los Angeles 7.5
Mexico City 8.0
Moscow 9.6
Sao Paulo   15.6
Chicago 19.4

We could be doing worse: Caracas, Venezuela has a murder rate of 130 per 100,000. But its undeniable that the Windy City is under siege.

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The number-one factor in predicting crime is not guns — or lack of guns. It is concentrated urban poverty. Because of Chicago’s history as a segregated city, we have a lot of that.