These Caribbean Nations Are Spending Millions On Crime

Crime scene investigators after a murder in  T&T. (Photo: AYANNA KINSALE/Trinidad Express)

By NAN Business Editor

News Americas, WASHINGTON, D.C., Fri. Feb. 10, 2017: Four Caribbean nations are spending hundreds of millions of their country’s budget annually, fighting the scourge of crime within their borders, a new study has found. According to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report, ‘The Cost Of Crime And Violence,’ the four biggest spenders across the Caribbean are:

1: Trinidad & Tobago

The oil rich nation of Trinidad & Tobago, which continues to battle a spiraling crime rate, spent some US $ 1.6 billion fighting crime in 2014 alone. As such, crime, which is claiming the lives mostly of young men between 15 and 29 there, cost its citizens and residents in 2014 more than $1,189 per person.

2: Jamaica

Jamaica, which also continues to battle with rising murder rates, spent some US $963 million in 2014 alone to battle the scourge that data shows is killing mostly men between the ages of 26-35.

3: The Bahamas

The third biggest spender on crime in the region is The Bahamas. The country spent about USD 434 million in 2014 alone battling rising crime rates within its borders that’s killing mostly young men between 18 and 29.

4: Barbados

Barbados rounds out the list, spending an estimated USD 124 million in 2014 to battle crime rates killing largely young men between the ages of 18-35.

Across Latin America And The Caribbean

Annual costs of crime and violence across Latin America and the Caribbean is estimated at $261 billion or 3.55 percent of GDP – roughly what the region invests on infrastructure and double the average cost for developed countries. It is also the equivalent income for 30 percent of the poorest population. Central America has the highest costs of crime, followed by the Caribbean.

“Crime has reached alarming levels in many countries,” said Ana María Rodríguez, the manager of the IDB’s Institutions for Development Department. “By providing estimates of the costs of violence at the regional, sub-regional, and national levels, the study will help governments and international cooperation agencies better allocate resources, as well as design better policies to control and prevent crime.”