Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, by characteristics of victims and location, 1993-97 Percent of murders and nonnegligent manslaughters Characteristic of victim or location 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 Race of victim 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% White 46.0 46.2 48.0 48.3 47.5 Black 50.7 50.8 48.4 48.2 48.4 Other 2.4 2.3 2.7 2.7 3.0 Not reported 0.9 0.8 1.0 0.9 1.2 Sex of victim 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% Male 77.1 78.4 76.6 76.9 77.2 Female 22.7 21.5 23.2 22.9 22.7 Not reported 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.2 Age of victim 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% Under 18 11.6 11.4 12.1 12.4 12.2 18 or older 87.0 86.8 86.2 86.3 86.6 Unknown 1.4 1.8 1.7 1.3 1.2 Type of weapon used 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% Firearm 69.6 70.0 68.2 67.8 67.8 Knife 12.7 12.7 12.7 13.5 12.8 Blunt object 4.4 4.1 4.5 4.6 4.6 Personal weapon 5.0 5.3 5.9 5.9 6.3 Other 8.2 7.8 8.7 8.2 8.5 Murder rate per 100,000 residents Overall U. S. rate 9.5 9.0 8.2 7.4 6.8 Region Northeast 8.2 7.1 6.2 5.4 4.8 Midwest 7.6 7.5 6.9 6.4 6.1 South 11.3 10.7 9.8 9.0 8.4 West 9.9 9.4 9.0 7.7 6.8 Urban character Metropolitan cities* 10.6 10.0 9.1 8.1 7.4 Smaller cities* 5.3 4.8 4.7 4.5 4.2 Rural counties 5.4 5.0 5.0 4.7 4.6 Number of murders and nonnegligent manslaughter 24,530 23,330 21,610 19,650 18,210 *Metropolitan cities are those in Metropolitan Statistical Ar- eas (MSA's), and smaller cities are those outside an MSA. Source: FBI, Uniform Crime Reports. Statistics on murder are compiled from over 16,000 city, county and State law enforcement agencies as part of the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR). For 1997 the UCR showed 18,210 murders -- a rate of 6.8 murders per 100,000 persons. The number of persons per 100,000 U.S. population in 1997 was 8% lower than in 1996 and 28% lower than in 1993. **************************end of table***************************