Attempted homicide cases recorded by police forces in France and its overseas territories have skyrocketed over seven years, official data revealed.

       The reports in the country rose by a staggering 78 percent between 2016 and 2023, according to figures released by the Ministry of the Interior's statistical service (SSMSI) on Thursday.

       The SSMSI stressed the data need to be looked at "with caution", stating: "The porosity between attempted homicide on the one hand and intentional assault and battery and violence, child abuse and abandonment on the other [still needs to be better identified]".

       Yet, this landmark study marks the first time reliable data on the subject has been published.

       The study estimated that police in France and its overseas territories recorded 4,015 victims of attempted homicide in 2023 - a major spike compared to data from 2016, when 2,259 victims were registered.

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       A staggering 85 percent of attempted homicides recorded last year were committed outside the family, with data remaining stable since 2021.

       Looking at the profile of the victims, 77 percent were men when looking at all the records.

       But when analysing the family context alone, women accounted for 65 percent of victims, while the figure jumped to 73 percent in the marital context.

       People aged between 15 and 29 are most at risk of attempted homicide, the data suggested, with men in this age group five times more likely than women to become victims of a similar crime.

       When it comes to the perpetrators of these crimes, men accounted for 90 percent, with 47 percent aged between 18 and 29.

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       The homicide rate hasn't been on an uninterrupted upward trend over the past seven years. Rather, the study suggested, the cases fell by 3.6 percent between 2016 and 2019, and started spiking from 2021.

       In 2023, France and its territories nearly marked the sad record of 1,000 victims of attempted homicide, recording 996.

       The highest rates of attempted homicide cases have been seen in French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Mayotte, where they are up to 12 times higher than in mainland France.

       In France, the areas of Seine-Saint-Denis, Bouches-du-Rh？ne, Val-d'Oise and Paris have the highest attempted homicide rates.