Murders of trans people remain at alarming levels as anti-rights sentiments spread and transphobic agendas take hold worldwide. Current laws and policies fail to address violence against trans people.
To mark the start of Trans Awareness Week 2024, leading up to Trans Day of Remembrance on November 20, we are releasing the annual update of our global Trans Murder Monitoring project. This research initiative monitors the murders of trans and gender diverse people globally, documenting cases since 2008.
350 trans and gender diverse people were reported murdered since the 2023 update. This is a significant increase in comparison with the previous year, when 321 cases were reported. It confirms what the trans community has been saying – transphobic violence is in no way subsiding, and on the contrary, is increasing, aided by growing anti-trans hate speech. This year, the Trans Murder Monitoring project has documented one of the highest death tolls since its beginning in 2008.
Following previous trends, Latin America and the Caribbean once again report the highest number of murders out of all the world’s regions, representing 70% of global murders of trans people. The data continues to indicate concerning trends when it comes to the intersections of misogyny, racism, xenophobia, and whorephobia. Most victims were Black and trans women of colour, and trans sex workers.
Regarding this year’s high total number of murders, the joint statement by TGEU, developed in collaboration with GATE, ILGA World, APTN, IGLYO, and ESWA declares:
‘This is no doubt a consequence of the concerted efforts of anti-gender and anti-rights movements that instrumentalise and vilify trans people to push wider anti-democratic political agendas. We have seen a consistent rise in the levels of online and offline hate speech and hate crimes, especially from political actors and religious and faith leaders, public figures. This rise is enabled by the lack of strong hate crime legislation that protects gender identity and expression, and the manipulative disinformation resulting from the lack of accountability for social media companies on ensuring information integrity,’ — The full Joint Statement will be published on Trans Day of Remembrance, 20 November.
Key findings
Trans Murder Monitoring 2024 data reveals:
- 350 trans and gender diverse people were reported murdered between 1 October 2023 and 30 September 2024.
- This year, the total number of recorded murders has crossed 5,000 cases since TGEU began monitoring in 2008.
- Consistent with previous years, 94% of the reported murders were femicides, i.e the victims were trans women or transfeminine people.
- Sex workers remain the most targeted group of all known occupations. However, the proportion of sex workers among victims (46%) is at its lowest level since our monitoring began (2016: 62%; 2008: 84%).
- 93% of the reported murders were of Black or Brown trans people, a 14% increase from last year.
- One-third of reported murder victims were aged 31 to 40, and a quarter were aged 19-25.
- 15 trans youth under the age of 18 years (nearly 6% of the total) were murdered.
- Almost three-quarters (73%) of all reported murders were committed in Latin America and the Caribbean. For the 17th consecutive year, Brazil leads the country rankings, with 30% of total cases.
- Nine cases were recorded in Africa for this monitoring period, more than double the previous highest annual total since the project began (four in 2012).
- There were half as many cases in Europe this year compared to last year (2024: 8; 2023: 16); whereas cases in the United States increased (2024: 41; 2023: 31).
- Almost half of the reported murders (46%) were shootings. More than a quarter (34%) of the recorded murders took place on the street and almost a quarter (22%) in the victim’s own home.
Underreported and misreported: The realities of violence against trans communities
These figures offer only a brief snapshot of the actual situation. Many cases remain unreported or misreported due to misgendering, and cases that get reported often attract minimal attention. Furthermore, this attention frequently differs from how the victims wish to be acknowledged and spoken about.
Although awareness of the challenges faced by trans people and the marginalisation of trans communities globally is increasing, violence against trans people persists. This year’s total is the joint-third highest number of reported murders since we began monitoring in 2008, matching the total from 2020. The number of reported murders was only higher in the data updates in 2021 (375) and 2017 (369).
The Trans Murder Monitoring data does not capture all reported cases globally, as not every trans and gender diverse murder victim is recognised as such in death reports. Consequently, these figures should be interpreted within the specific social, political, economic, and historical contexts in which they occur.
The elevated number of murder reports from Latin America and the Caribbean is in part due to the presence of well-established monitoring systems in these regions. Most of the data is sourced from countries with robust networks of trans and LGBTI organisations that handle the monitoring. However, this is not the case in many other countries. Therefore, it is likely that more trans people were killed than the Trans Murder Monitoring Project has captured. Partly as a result of us expanding our monitoring efforts, this year, cases were recorded for the first time in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Namibia, Nigeria and Syria in the entire history of Trans Murder Monitoring.
“Every year, TGEU compiles data on trans murders globally to underscore just how much trans lives are at significant higher risk than other people. This year, as we confront the sobering milestone of 5,000 documented murders since the start of the Trans Murder Monitoring project that we know of, we, the trans people and communities around the world, are exhausted from repeatedly asking:
“When will this violence end?
“We can no longer afford to wait!
“States must commit to immediate action to counter the surge in anti-trans hate speech and attacks and break this cycle of violence!
“Our lives depend on it!” says Ymania Brown, Executive Director of TGEU — Trans Europe and Central Asia.
More information
Names, countries, demographics, type of murder, sources:
- Table Oct 2023 – Sep 2024 (pdf)
- Namelist Oct 2023 – Sep 2024 (pdf)
- Namelist Oct 2023 – Sep 2024 (xlsx)
- Namelist Oct 2023 – Sep 2024 (csv)
- Map Jan – Sep 2024
- Map 2008 – Sep 2024
About TGEU
TGEU (Trans Europe and Central Asia) is a trans-led nonprofit working for the rights and wellbeing of trans people since 2005. TGEU represents 200+ member organisations across 50 countries.
Contact for press: comms@tgeu.org
Collaborators
The Trans Murder Monitoring 2024 data collection was supported by TGEU members, Anna-Jayne Metcalfe (tdor.translivesmatter.info), and the following partner organisations:
- Asociación de Derechos Humanos Cozumel Trans (Honduras)
- Asociación Silueta X (Ecuador)
- Association Unity (Togo)
- Caribe afirmativo (Colombia)
- Centro de Apoyo a las Identidades Trans (Mexico)
- HOPE- Have Only POsitive Expectations (Pakistan)
- Iranti (South Africa)
- Jinsiangu (Kenya)
- LakanBini Trans Network (The Philippines)
- Observatorio de violaciones a derechos humanos de personas LGTBIQ+ en Nicaragua
- (Nicaragua)
- OTRANS Guatemala (Guatemala)
- Rede Trans Brasil (Brazil)
- Red SinViolenciaLGBTI (Latin America and the Caribbean)
- SPoD (Turkey)
- Tranz Network Uganda (Uganda)