New Delhi: According to data compiled by National Crime Records Bureau and released by the Union Home Ministry, India has earned the notoriety of being the country where maximum number of murders take place in the world, three times more than its neighbor Pakistan and double the figures in the United States.

Out of more than 50 lakh incidents of crime recorded in 2007-08 including murder, rape and drug offences, 32,719 incidence of murder were recorded in India, whereas there were 16,692 in the U.S. and 9,631 in Pakistan.

India was followed by South Africa, which registered 30,960 incidence of murders. Austria had recorded just 148 murders, whereas Israel registered 177 such incidents. However, the rate (per lakh population) of murder and other crimes in India was much less as compared to other countries.

The murder and rape rate in India is three and four (per lakh population) respectively whereas South Africa recorded the occurrence rate in murders and rapes with 65.27 and 115.8 respectively. Delhi has recorded an increase of 1.08 percent in murders in 2007 as compared to 2006.

"Most of the murder takes place due to passion, sudden provocation, crime related and family disputes," Delhi Police spokesman ACP Rajan Bhagat said.

Meanwhile, the number of rape cases were maximum in the U.S., which recorded 93,934 such assaults followed by South Africa 54,926 and India 18,359.

The data was compiled of 22 countries, which included Australia, Argentina, Austria, Bulgaria, Japan, Canada, England and Wales, Germany, Malaysia New Zealand, Thailand and Sri Lanka.

According to the report, there were 44,159 incidences of sexual offence, 2,70,861 cases of serious assault and 22,814 robbery and violent theft related incidence were reported in India.