According to the figures published by the US health agency CDC and the FBI, 21,570 murders and homicides occurred in the United States in 2020. The figure can be compared with the previous year's 16,425, and is the highest recorded in the country since 1995. The new record corresponds to 7.8 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the CDC.

Of the United States' 50 states, only three saw a decline, Maine, New Mexico and Alaska.

The difference between 2019 and 2020, 30 percent, is the single largest increase in 100 years in the country.

Previously, the years 2000-2001 accounted for the largest increase, then largely due to the terrorist attack on September 11 with its nearly 3,000 deaths.

Unemployment and vulnerability

Exactly what is behind the increase has not yet been investigated, but several experts point to social vulnerability during the pandemic - for example, increased unemployment - as a major contributing factor.

- You can get the impression that people have lost all courtesy.

"At the same time, people have to stay home, lose their jobs, worry about their health and have access to more weapons," Georges Benjamin, director of the American Public Health Association, told CNN.

U.S. criminologists also point to the effects of the pandemic on police work as a contributing factor.

Sick leave and social distancing led to fewer police on the streets, which above all affected crime prevention efforts, writes CNN.

Also increasing in Sweden

Sweden also saw an increase in lethal violence in 2020, such as murder and manslaughter.

According to the Swedish Crime Prevention Council (Brå), 124 cases were found, compared with 111 cases in 2019. The increase is thus not as strong as in the USA, while the number of cases per capita is also significantly lower in Sweden.

According to Brå, 1.2 cases per 100,000 inhabitants occurred in Sweden, compared with 7.8 in the USA.

However, criminologist Ardavan Khoshnood finds it difficult to see that the pandemic may have had any major effect on developments in Sweden.

Hear his explanation in the clip above.