Murder rate in major US cities outpaces Ukraine's recorded civilian death rate

Per capita murder rates in major U.S. cities such as Chicago, Baltimore and St. Louis are outpacing Ukraine's recorded civilian death rate from Russia's invasion.

According to the United Nations Human Rights office, 5,401 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since Russia's attack began in February, although the agency said it "believes that the actual figures are considerably higher."

With a population of about 41,167,300, Ukraine's civilian death rate is 13.12 per 100,000 people using official statistics from the United Nations.

The murder rates for several major U.S. cities are considerably higher than Ukraine's civilian death rate.

For example, Baltimore, which has a population of 576,498 as of July 2021 according to Census estimates, has seen 215 homicides so far in 2022, yielding a rate of 37.3 murders per 100,000 people.

St. Louis, with a population of 293,310 as of July of last year, has seen 112 homicides in 2022, putting the murder rate at 38.2 per 100,000.

In Chicago, the 2022 murder rate is about 14.8 per 100,000.

CBS News compiled the latest available data earlier this year from the FBI's 2019 Crime in the United States report.

Using pre-pandemic data, 52 U.S. cities had worse homicide rates than Ukraine's civilian death rate. However, crime in the United States has skyrocketed since then, meaning that there may be more cities that qualify as deadlier than Ukraine under assault by Russian forces.