Crime > Kidnappings: Countries Compared

Gunmen <a href= http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_kid>kidnapped</a> an Italian aid worker from the CARE International aid agency on May 16 in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. The car the woman was traveling in was intercepted and blocked by another car. <p>The area of Kabul where the Italian was kidnapped has several guest houses and restaurants that are popular with foreigners. On May 8, a <a href= http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/mor_ass_by_exp_mat>bomb attack</a> in an Internet café in the same area killed three people, including a U.N. worker from Myanmar. <p> Aid agencies operating in Kabul have warned to staff to keep a low profile in recent weeks following two unsuccessful kidnapping attempts. In April, an American man was forced into the trunk of a car by kidnappers but managed to jump out. In another incident, gunmen intercepted a car carrying foreigners but the driver escaped. A British adviser to the government was <a href= http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/mor_ass_by_rif_sho_and_lar_fir_dis>killed in a shooting</a> near a U.N. guest house in March. <p>In October of last year, three U.N. workers were kidnapped in Kabul and held for 27 days before being released. The Afghan government said the October kidnapping was committed by a gang of criminals hired by a Taliban splinter faction that threatened to kill them unless Taliban prisoners were freed. <p>Taliban guerrillas have attacked and killed dozens of aid and election workers since launching an insurgency after they were forced from power by U.S.-led forces in 2001 for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden. But most of their attacks have been in rural areas of the country, particularly in the south and east.

Colombia’s second-largest guerilla group – the National Liberation Army or ELN – has refused to stop carrying out kidnappings, saying the 3,000-member group needs the money from ransoms to operate. The government has insisted on an end to kidnappings as a precondition for peace talks. <p>In the first half of 2004, 966 people were kidnapped in Colombia, less than half of the 1,906 people kidnapped in the same period of 2003. An average of 3,000 people were kidnapped in the country each year from 1996 to 2003. <p>Ransom payments over the eight-year period were estimated at $57 million, with an average ransom of $20,000. The estimated cost to the economy was $150 million, including loss of income, and the government also spent $110 million to crack down on abductions. <p>Most kidnappings were carried out by the FARC and the ELN, left-wing rebel groups that have waged a 40-year conflict against the state.

But wait! United States and Mexico have to be on the list! After all my uber republican talking heads told me that all illegal immigrants are dangerous and that all they do is kidnap and murder! So how can we not be on the list! (Sarcasm is a virtue - illegal immigrants might harm the economy and some social programs, but physically they're probably less likely to hurt or kidnap you than the average Joe next door.)

I love all these Rush wingnuts taking His word for Gospel. Where is US and Mexico. Rush said they were highest rate of kidnapping in the world so you guys are lying because Rush is "always right"---=-NOT

I now why didn't the COUNTRY NO 1 in KIDNAPS "MEXICO" didn't appear, they also have the No. 1 In corruption, so they may have paid something to not be listed in this chart...

I'm totally amazed and surprised of not seeing Honduras on this chart, it is my belief that the number of kidnappings that rae taking place in Honduras it might be to big to figure on this chart... I suggest the editors to give attention to this data, since on the latest years the number of crimes related to poverty in honduras, and most specifically the crimes of kidnappings has grown over three figure numbers.

Surprised Mexico isn't on the list, though a lot of kidnappings in Mexico are either not reported (when actual kidnaps w/ransom demand) or reported and classified as armed robbery (known as the express kidnap).

WTH? Where's the US? Im from the US and I think that it's disturbing we aren't on there. I know we have the highest number of kidnappings, so what gives with this biased statistic.

United Kingdom rates n.1 :How come? Any explanations?

Hey! Is it true that India is free from Kidnapping, how come so? Glad to know that so many countries are far ahead than India in kidnappin? I never knew that .

Then we have "legal" kidnapping done by police nowadays, mainly in Europe but it could be everywhere nowadays.
http://www.cbn.com/media/player/index.aspx?s=/vod/DHU93v2_WS&search=%20%20dominic%20johansson&p=1&parent=0&subnav=false

The high number of kidnappings reported for Canada surprised me until I thought about it. In Canada, the abduction of a child by the "non-custodial" parent is reported as a kidnapping (not a domestic or custodial dispute). Occaisionally a divorced parent will pick up their child for visitation and go to the other side of the country with no intension of returning the child. It is then reported as a kidnapping to prompt immediate action by the police in that jurisdiction to apprehend the parent and return the child.