TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – The Central America nation’s homicide rate of 85.5 per every 100,000 in 2012 was nearly 10 times the global average of 8.8, according to the Violence Observatory at the National Autonomous University.

The country was home to 10,411 homicides last year, according to the Violence Observatory’s report released on Feb. 27.

The majority of the murders (52%) were committed on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. The departments of Atlántida, Cortés and Francisco Morazán suffered 53.6% of all the killings, according to the report, which used data provided by the Ministry of Security and Medical Examiner’s Office.

The report also reveals that 62 children under the age of 11 were killed by gunfire in 2012.

The number of homicides committed in Honduras has increased by about 233% in the past nine years.

[EFE (Honduras), 27/02/2013; El Heraldo (Honduras), 28/02/2013; La Prensa (Honduras), 27/02/2013]