(ANSA) - Italy's homicide rate is the seventh highest in the European Union with more than 700 murders in 2004, according to a crime report issued on Tuesday.
The report, compiled by economic and social research institute Eures together with ANSA, said that 710 murders were committed in Italy last year, or 1.2 per 100,000 inhabitants, with two murders less than in 2003. Almost 74% of all murder victims in 2004 were male, it said.
While Italy was seventh among the 25 EU member states, its 2004 murder rate was still lower than the EU average of 2.8 murders per 100,0000 inhabitants, the report said.
But it noted that the European average rose sharply last year after ten new members joined the block. Estonia, for example, has the highest murder rate in the EU with 10.4 per 100,000 residents followed by Lithuania and Latvia with 9.5.
Greece posted the lowest homicide rate in the EU at 0.8 followed by Austria (0.9) and Denmark (1). Returning to Italy, the report said the number of murders committed in the country had fallen sharply since the period 1990-1995 when there were an average of 1,430 murders per year.
Organised crime groups were responsible for 200, or more than a quarter, of last year's murders while family-related homicides came to 187, or one every other day.
It said the southern half of the country had the worst record, accounting for almost 58% of all murders committed in 2004.
Murders in the south rose a sharp 8% over 2003 whereas they plunged 10.7% in the north and 6.7% in central regions. The report confirmed government concerns over growing violence in the regions of Campania around Naples and Calabria in the south.
Campania was found to be the region with the highest number of murders - 179 homicides or 25% of the total - while Naples was the most violent city with 126 murders compared to 37 in Rome and 35 in Reggio Calabria.
Calabria, however, posted the highest murder rate with 3.7 per 100,000 inhabitants.
The report found a steep rise in the number of foreigners killed in Italy, up 28% over 2003 and accounting for a fifth of all murders committed in 2004. The murder rate among the resident foreign population stands at 7.3 per 100,000 compared to 1 per 100,000 for Italian inhabitants, it said.
Looking in greater detail at domestic murders, the report said that women were the victims in 70% of cases and that 80% of such murders were committed by men. The study found that Fridays and the weekends were the most dangerous times of the week, with 116 murders committed on a Friday last year and 110 on a Sunday.
Wednesday was the day with the lowest murder rate - 68 in all.
