Jamaica Celebrates Lowest Monthly Murder Toll In 25 Years

Homicides across the country lessened by 35% from this time period last year.

Jamaica has a new record to celebrate. The Caribbean country has had its lowest monthly murder toll in 25 years.

According to The Jamaica Observer, the nation had only 47 murders reported for the month of February. The Minister of Information, Dr. Dana Morris Dixon, shared the exciting news on Mar. 4 during a post-cabinet media briefing at the Jamaica House.

“We need to put that in context — that is the lowest monthly count since 2000. In 25 years, this has been the lowest number of murders in a month,” explained Dixon.

“This is a historic low number. It means we’re going in the right direction, all the work that has been done is bearing fruit, and so Jamaica, we need to celebrate this.”

The government official also recalled how this vastly differs from when crime and homicides scared the population. With these reduced numbers, Dixon believes a celebration should commence.

She continued, “When the numbers were going up it was all over the place — everybody was stressed, everybody was talking about what’s happening in the country. Now we have it going in the other direction, let’s celebrate it.”

Dixon also confirmed that murder lessened by 35% since the year prior. According to Statista, Jamaica had 40.1 homicides per 100,000 people in 2024, with its highest rate in recent years being over 55 homicides on average in 2017. The country had been known for having high intentional homicides rates on a global scale as well.

The incessant violence sparked international concern as well. The United States upgraded its travel advisory for the popular tourism destination to a Level 3 advisory. The status urged citizens to reconsider trips to the country. While Jamaica had pushed back against the designation in the past, it now has the numbers to show its improvement.

However, the Minister hopes that this reduction in crime will lead to safer communities and experiences across the country.

“We can’t just look at the statistics kind of dispassionately — that’s 63 less people killed, 63 less mothers mourning their child’s death, 63 less funerals that we have to do. It’s a big deal, and so major crime is also down 25 per cent so, overall, it’s a great thing for Jamaica,” added the minister.

Regardless of the travel advisories, Jamaicans are recognizing the fruitful efforts to reduce killings within its neighborhoods.