1. San Pedro Sula, Honduras
San Pedro Sula is the murder capital of the world. While recent number are difficult to obtain, a Citizen Council study reported that a whopping 1,143 out of 719,447 of San Pedro Sula's residents were murdered in 2011.
Perhaps even more alarming is a study by the United Nations indicating that the city's murder rate has more than doubled in the period from 2005 – 2010.
Like many struggling Latin American countries, San Pedro Sula's spike in extreme violence is largely a product of the drug trade, mixed with extreme poverty and high levels of corruption.
Gangs, extreme poverty, and total corruption all contribute to make San Pedro Sula the world's most dangerous city heading into 2013.