The share of Americans killed by guns is without parallel in the
developed world. The most striking statistic: 87 percent of children
killed by guns in 23 of the world's most developed, wealthiest countries
were Americans.That comes from a 2011 analysis of 2003 mortality data from members of
the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group of
wealthy, developed nations. It found that in general, Americans were
killed by guns far more frequently than people in the other 22
countries, including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and
Hungary. They were also more likely to be killed, period: The American
homicide rate was seven times the rate of the other 22 countries.
The other findings underscore, in the wake of the San Bernardino massacre, that this is a uniquely American problem:
- Firearm homicide rates in the US were 20 times higher than in the other countries studied.
- American teenagers and young adults, ages 15 through 24, were 43
times more likely to be killed by a gun than their counterparts in other
wealthy, developed countries.
- Among the 23 countries with a combined population of 854 million
people, the US had roughly one-third of the people — and 80 percent of
the gun deaths.
- Regardless of whether mass killings like the one in San Bernardino
are becoming more frequent, they happen far more in the US than anywhere
else.
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