The welfare cost of violence across countries

The cost of violence goes beyond its material dimension, including also the welfare loss due to higher mortality. A given mortality, and its distribution across age groups, determines a reduction in life expectancy that can be valued using the marginal willingness to pay approach. We estimate the health dimension of the welfare cost of violence for 73 countries. On average, 1 year of life expectancy lost to violence is associated with a yearly social cost of 3.8% of GDP. The health dimension increases the estimated social costs of violence by 40% in the United States and by 57% in Latin America.