SOUTH AFRICA: Murderers target young men
From http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1501538,00.html
Murderers target young men
21/03/2004 22:14 - (SA)
Antoinette Pienaar
Pretoria - Men between the ages of 25 and 29 are most at risk to be murdered of all the age groups and genders in South Africa.
The Medical Research Council's 2002 report on unnatural deaths shows that men become relatively safe from violence only after the age of 40.
However, even elderly men are murdered more often than women.
Researchers visited 32 mortuaries all over the country and studied 32 890 deaths that occurred between January and December 2002.
They found that more than 77% were victims of unnatural deaths, such as murders, suicides and road accidents. About 20% were natural deaths, while the other 3% were uncertain.
More than 11 500 people were murdered, 7 081 of them with guns. This outnumbered the total number of road deaths (6 878).
Researchers found that 38 boys and 28 girls under the age of four were murdered, while 19 boys and 12 girls in the five to nine age bracket were murdered.
However, once over the age of 10, the number of murders of male victims increases dramatically. In the 10 to 14 age group, 54 boys were murdered compared to 17 girls.
This number becomes more dramatic for youths between the ages of 15 and 19, where 654 boys were murdered as opposed to 105 girls.
However, in the 25 to 29 age group, 1 910 men were murdered and only 165 women. This age group represents more than 20% of all murders.
This group is most at risk to be shot dead, beaten or stabbed.
Road accidents were the biggest cause of unnatural death among women. Accidents such as drownings and burns were the biggest cause in toddlers between the ages of one and four.
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