The disparity in police-reported violent crime between Canada and the United States has decreased in recent years, largely due to an uptick in major assaults recorded north of the border.
A Statistics Canada study examining crime trends from 1998 to 2023 found that the incidence of police-reported violent crimes for every 100,000 residents remains higher in the United States than in Canada. However, the violent crime rate is rising at a much quicker pace in Canada.
The rate of violent crimes reported in Canada rose by 13 percent from 1998 to 2008, and by nine percent from 2009 to 2023, while rates in the United States dipped 37 percent over a span of 25 years, StatCan found.
The gap in reported violent crimes is mainly due to an increase in major assaults in Canada and a drop in the United States.
“Since the late 1990s, rates of major assault have been generally trending in opposite directions in Canada and the United States,” the report says, noting that much of the decrease in the United States occurred between 1998 to 2013. “Most recently, trends in major assault in the two countries have looked more similar.”
Murder rates are also similar in both countries, but only when guns are not involved. StatCan reported that the rate of non-firearm homicides in the United States was only slightly higher than Canada’s rate throughout the 25-year timeframe analyzed.
With guns factored in, homicide is much more prevalent in the United States, the report found. There were 5.7 homicides per 100,000 people in the United States in 2023, three times the rate recorded in Canada.
Seventy-six percent of all homicides committed in the United States involved a firearm in 2023, compared with 38 percent in Canada.
“Most of the current and historical differences in rates between the two countries can be attributed to firearm-related homicides,” the report says. “Without exception, homicides involving firearms have been consistently much higher in the United States than in Canada.”
The report said there have been considerable similarities in homicide trends between the two countries since the 1970s when overall trends are factored in, however.
Homicide rates in Canada and the United States increased consistently throughout the 1970s, reaching their highest point in Canada in 1975 and in the United States in 1980. Both countries have experienced significant reductions in long-term trends since then.
Canada’s homicide rate was 33 percent lower in 2023 compared to its peak in 1975, while in the United States the 2023 rate was 44 percent lower than the peak recorded in 1980.
“Despite these long-term decreases, both countries have also seen recent upticks in their annual homicide rates,” the report says.
The 2023 homicide rate in Canada increased by 6 percent compared to five years earlier, and 35 percent higher than it was a decade ago. The 2023 rate in the United States was 11 percent higher than in 2019, and 26 percent higher than in 2013.
Property Crime
Police-reported crime trends in Canada and the United States have largely mirrored each other since the 1960s, with both nations documenting a decline in incidents of robbery, break and enter, motor vehicle theft, and theft.Similar to violent crime, the disparity in property crime rates between the two nations has nearly vanished over the past few years, the report said. It indicates that Canada’s property crime rate in 2023 was marginally greater than that of the United States, aligning with trends observed in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The report indicates that the level of property crime in Canada was significantly lower than that in the United States from 2010 to 2015, although the rates have aligned more closely in the years following.
Homes accounted for 46 percent of all break and enters in Canada and 53 percent in the United States, while the rest of the break-ins were aimed at retail stores, offices, and other non-residential structures.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
