Death by government: why you are 4.6 times more likely to be murdered by a government lackey

The author of this blog has compiled a list of all the deaths in the 20th Century that were due to wars, massacres, slaughters, and other episodes of government oppression (i.e. starvation). He cites many sources and his analysis appears very thorough.

His total for the 20th Century is 203 million people. If the famine deaths are deducted from this number we are left with 145 million people - that is 145 million lives that were extinguished by someone following orders from a government official.

Let's compare that number to the number of deaths that occurred during the 20th Century due to homicides. These are deaths perpetrated by non-government persons.

To estimate the number of homicides that took place in the 20th Century I used two statistics - yearly homicide rates and yearly world populations. I could not find actual numbers for either one of these statistics so I had to do some estimation.

I found recent world homicide rates here . I was able to consolidate the data and produce average world homicide rates for the years 2003-2008. I was unable to locate rates before 2003.

2003: 8.76 homicides per 100,000 population

2004: 9.75 homicides per 100,000 population

2005: 8.51 homicides per 100,000 population

2006: 8.40 homicides per 100,000 population

2007: 7.24 homicides per 100,000 population

2008: 8.83 homicides per 100,000 population

For my analysis I used a rate of 10 homicides per 100,000 population.

I then estimated the population (interpolating for earlier years) of the world from 1901 to 2000 and applied a homicide rate of 10 homicides per 100,000 population per year. See the table at the end of this post for world homicide calculation. The estimated number of homicides for the 20th Century are 31.5 million.

During the 20th Century 145 million people were killed by obedient government servants while 31.5 million were killed by private citizens. Thus, you're violent demise is 4.6 times more likely to come at the hands of someone wearing a government uniform versus a private citizen. For those who think government is needed to provide "security" I would beg to differ. I would feel safer if there was a lot less government "security".

20th Century World Homicide Estimates

Year	Population (millions)	Homicides
1901	1,668	166,812
1902	1,686	168,624
1903	1,704	170,436
1904	1,722	172,248
1905	1,741	174,060
1906	1,759	175,872
1907	1,777	177,684
1908	1,795	179,496
1909	1,813	181,308
1910	1,831	183,120
1911	1,849	184,932
1912	1,867	186,744
1913	1,886	188,556
1914	1,904	190,368
1915	1,922	192,180
1916	1,940	193,992
1917	1,958	195,804
1918	1,976	197,616
1919	1,994	199,428
1920	2,012	201,240
1921	2,031	203,052
1922	2,049	204,864
1923	2,067	206,676
1924	2,085	208,488
1925	2,103	210,300
1926	2,121	212,112
1927	2,139	213,924
1928	2,157	215,736
1929	2,175	217,548
1930	2,194	219,360
1931	2,212	221,172
1932	2,230	222,984
1933	2,248	224,796
1934	2,266	226,608
1935	2,284	228,420
1936	2,302	230,232
1937	2,320	232,044
1938	2,339	233,856
1939	2,357	235,668
1940	2,375	237,480
1941	2,393	239,292
1942	2,411	241,104
1943	2,429	242,916
1944	2,447	244,728
1945	2,465	246,540
1946	2,484	248,352
1947	2,502	250,164
1948	2,520	251,976
1949	2,538	253,788
1950	2,556	255,600
1951	2,594	259,386
1952	2,636	263,573
1953	2,681	268,106
1954	2,729	272,929
1955	2,781	278,121
1956	2,834	283,446
1957	2,891	289,057
1958	2,947	294,742
1959	3,000	300,007
1960	3,042	304,245
1961	3,084	308,351
1962	3,140	313,972
1963	3,210	320,953
1964	3,281	328,098
1965	3,350	335,025
1966	3,421	342,054
1967	3,490	349,029
1968	3,562	356,235
1969	3,637	363,728
1970	3,713	371,296
1971	3,791	379,083
1972	3,867	386,734
1973	3,943	394,318
1974	4,018	401,781
1975	4,090	409,041
1976	4,162	416,164
1977	4,234	423,364
1978	4,306	430,573
1979	4,381	438,068
1980	4,453	445,294
1981	4,536	453,567
1982	4,616	461,559
1983	4,697	469,661
1984	4,777	477,673
1985	4,858	485,826
1986	4,942	494,203
1987	5,028	502,830
1988	5,115	511,523
1989	5,202	520,177
1990	5,289	528,904
1991	5,372	537,196
1992	5,457	545,670
1993	5,539	553,879
1994	5,619	561,941
1995	5,700	570,033
1996	5,781	578,053
1997	5,859	585,908
1998	5,937	593,665
1999	6,013	601,349
2000	6,090	608,965