Malta's death due to assault rate per 100,000 inhabitants is higher than the EU average, Eurostat figures show.

The statistics take into account deaths due to assault if it results from homicide or injuries inflicted by another person with intent to injure or kill. Deaths related to legal interventions or to war are excluded

With 4.6 assault-related deaths per 100 000 inhabitants, Latvia registered the highest rate among the EU Member States in 2016. Two other Baltic Member States, Lithuania (3.6 deaths due to assault per 100 000 inhabitants) and Estonia (2.7) also recorded relatively high rates of death due to assault.

At the opposite end of the scale, the United Kingdom recorded the lowest rate of deaths due to assault in 2016 (0.1), followed by 8 Member States with a rate of 0.5: Luxembourg, Denmark, Germany, France, Austria, Czechia, Italy and Ireland.

The EU average stands at 0.6 assault-related deaths per 100 000 inhabitants, while Malta's rate is 0.8.

Malta's highest rate since 2011 was recorded in 2013 (1.38), reducing to 0.72 in 2016, then rising to 0.8 in 2016.

In terms of the EU as a whole, from the 5.1 million deaths reported in the European Union (EU) in 2016, 3 300 (0.06%) were due to assault. The majority of victims were men (65%). The assault-related death rate is falling in the EU. In 2002, the first year for which data are available, the rate stood at 1.3 per 100 000 inhabitants in terms of the EU average, and has gradually decreased since then, reaching 0.6 per 100 000 in 2016.

In terms of actual deaths rather than death rate, Malta had 4 deaths due to assault in 2016, while Latvia, the country which had the highest rate, had 91. The country with the lowest rate, the UK, had a total of 89 such deaths.