INTRODUCTION
This page looks at the world’s 100 most prolific serial killers of the 20th and 21st centuries. It looks where serial killers come from. Not all countries are equally able to track and identify serial killers so many serial killers, especially from developing countries, would have gone unnoticed. So when comparing countries and regions of the world, this factor should be considered. However, we can still get a fairly good idea of which regions of the world and countries tend to produce more serial killers.
Charts
1. 100 Most Prolific Serial Killers in World by Country, Years active, Proven victims and Possible victims, Main Method, Main Victim Group and Penalty
2. Region of Birth of Serial Killers with 5 or More Proven Victims
3. Most Common Country of 100 Most Prolific Serial Killers
4. Serial Killer Motive for US and non-US Serial Killers
Data Table
5. Most Prolific Serial Killers in World by Country, Years active, Proven victims and Possible victims
The 3 regions of the world which produce the most prolific serial killers are North America, Latin America and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Most notable is Latin America which is mostly not a developed region so it wouldn’t necessarily have identified all possible serial killers. To a lesser extent this is true for eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.
Luis Garavito, from Colombia, is the most prolific serial killer of all time with 138 proven victims. His victims were boys who were living on the streets. His main method of killing was stabbing with a knife or screwdriver. His murders were carried out in his home country of Colombia but also Ecuador and Venezuela.
When looking at known serial killers with 5 or more proven victims, there are far more from North America than Latin America. The reason for this is likely to be due to the greater rate of detection than there actually being more. We can infer this because there are similar number of known serial killers when looking at the previous chart for the most prolific serial killers with far more than 5 victims. Western Europe is also notably higher percentage of known serial killers among the less prolific serial killers. Again, this is due to the higher rate of detection in a more developed country.
While far from the top of the list, Ted Bundy is arguably the most famous serial killer of the 20th century. His fame stems partly from him being American in a US-centric world but also due to the unique character traits he possessed. He is often considered an example of a pure psychopath rather than the disturbed individual more typical among serial killers.
USA and USSR / Russian Empire are the two countries which have produced by far the most of the top 100 serial killers. Both are large and developed or fairly developed countries so they would be expected to be on the list but their dominance is notable and suggests both have a significant serial killer problem over the 20th century. It’s likely that the low population density of both countries is a factor in how many serial killers they have had. South Africa is notable as it is not a large country but has produced 10 of the top 100. Colombia and Iran are also notable for being significantly overrepresented compared to their population size.
5. 100 Most Prolific Serial Killers in World by Country, Years active, Proven victims and Possible victims, Main Method,
Main Victim Group and Penalty
OTHER PAGES ABOUT MURDER
Sources:
Charts created using OpenOffice Calc.