Trans Murder Monitoring 2026 shows that every 32 hours, a trans person was murdered

TGEU’s Trans Murder Monitoring (TMM) has recorded 273 trans and gender diverse people murdered worldwide over the past year, on average, one murder reported every 32 hours. Murders were reported across 35 countries, the second-highest number since the monitoring began, and for the first time in Romania and Cameroon. In total, TMM has now recorded over 5,500 murders globally since data collection began in 2009. 

TGEU – Trans Europe and Central Asia publishes the annual update of its global Trans Murder Monitoring project in the lead-up to Trans Awareness Week, ending with the Trans Day of Remembrance (TDoR) on 20 November. 

The TMM project counts only reported murders, and monitoring work is getting harder. The total number of reported murders is under 300 for only the second time in a decade, but the violence has not eased. Shrinking civic space, media and state-backed hostility towards trans people, and cuts to funding make it less likely that a murder is reported and recorded. 

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Key findings

• 273 trans and gender diverse people were reported murdered between 1 October 2025 and 30 September 2026 – one murder every 32 hours.
• 35 different countries reported a murder – the second highest ever. Only in 2024 was the number of reporting countries higher (38).
• One in three victims were sex workers (32%), who remain the most targeted group of all known occupations. 
• Echoing the patterns of previous years, almost all reported murders (95%) were feminicides (victims were trans women or transfeminine people), and three-quarters (75%) of victims were Black or Brown trans people.
• The age profile of murder victims appears to be shifting slightly older. More than one third (35%) were aged 31-40 in 2026, while one in five (21%) victims were aged 19-25 – consistently the largest age group in the first decade of TMM. One in twenty (5%) victims in the past year were minors under the age of 18.
• Seven out of ten (69%) murders occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean. Brazil leads the list once again, accounting for one in three (32%) of the global total. Numbers continued to fall in Mexico, with the lowest reported murders (29) since 2011. However, 2026 saw the highest-ever total in Argentina (16) and the second-highest total in Ecuador (16) since TMM began.
• The number of reported murders in Asia (32) fell after last year’s all-time high (51). This year’s total is likely an undercount – some monitoring partners in Asia reported no capacity to provide data this year, citing lack of resources and even electricity.
• 13 murders were reported in Europe, the highest total since 2023 – as many as 2024 and 2025 combined. The majority of victims were international migrants.
• One in ten murders were recorded in the United States (29), a similar level to 2025 (31).
• Two in five (40%) reported murders were shootings, while a quarter (24%) were stabbings. Three in ten (30%) of murders occurred on the street, and one quarter (25%) occurred in the victim’s own home.
• Of known perpetrators, one in four (25%) were a current or former partner, lover or spouse. Other commonly reported perpetrators were organised hate groups/gangs (15%), strangers (14%), police/military/army (12%) and sex work clients (8%).
• A perpetrator was arrested in only one in five murders (21%) where local authorities documented a response.

Intersectional violence

Year after year, the same demographic of trans people are murdered. Almost all reported victims (95%) were trans women or transfeminine people. Sex workers, who make up one in three victims, remain the most targeted group of all known occupations, and three in four victims were Black or Brown trans people.

This is what intersecting oppression looks like in practice. Misogyny, transphobia, racism, xenophobia and whorephobia compound one another, and those at their crossroads are the ones most at risk. 

“As a Black trans woman and a refugee, I live with the constant fear of losing my life. While others go about their daily lives with a sense of safety, Black trans women must remain vigilant, always watching our backs. Our safety is never guaranteed.

These murders are not just numbers in a report; they are our friends, colleagues, siblings, parents, and members of our communities. As these killings increase year after year, we demand more than sympathy: we demand justice, proper investigations, and accountability for every life taken. Black trans women deserve the right to live safely, freely, and with dignity.”

– Purity Tumukwasibwe, TGEU Board member  

Most reported murders: Latin America and the Caribbean

Behind the global total, the violence is not evenly spread. Seven in ten of this year’s reported murders took place in Latin America and the Caribbean, and Brazil again accounts for one in three murders worldwide.

The concentration reflects the scale of violence, and it also reflects documentation. Latin America has a long-established movement of trans and feminist organisations that monitor and report feminicides. As a result, more murders reach the record than in regions where that infrastructure is thin. The figures are also raw counts, not adjusted for population size, so they show where murders are reported, not where a trans person is at greatest risk. 

Within the region, the picture moves in different directions. Some countries appear to be on a downward trajectory (e.g. Mexico), while others have reached the highest annual total since our monitoring began (e.g. Argentina). A lower national figure should not be read as a safer country without looking closely at each context, as one of our monitoring partners points out:

‘We must not show any signs of celebration [over the decline in recorded murders]; rather, we must scrutinise current trends, including those in each individual country.’ 

– Rocío Suárez, Centro de Apoyo a las Identidades Trans A.C., Mexico

Our region: Europe and Central Asia

In Europe, 13 murders were reported this year. That is as many as in 2024 and 2025 combined. Most victims were international migrants; almost all were trans women or transfeminine people, and a third were sex workers. The pattern is clear: those at the intersection of multiple forms of marginalisation are the most at risk. 

Many people come to Europe in search of a life in which they can be themselves and be safe. For the migrants among these victims, that search ended in murder. The pattern points to the combined effect of xenophobia, racism and transphobia, which leaves trans migrants without protection and among the most exposed to harm. This comes amid a growing far-right and anti-gender backlash across Europe, translating into increasingly hostile rhetoric, restrictive legislation and political attacks on the rights of migrants and trans people.

In Central Asia, no murders were reported to us this year. This should not be read as an absence of violence. It more likely reflects a lack of safety for trans people in the region, forced to remain as invisible as possible, while their relatives may not disclose their trans identity after death. With activists facing overwhelming challenges and limited resources for monitoring, murders often go uncounted. One of the victims killed in Europe this year was a migrant from Central Asia, which echoes a wider story of trans people leaving the region to build a life where they can live more openly.

“Laws that target the rights of migrants and asylum seekers—especially racialised people from the Global South—and criminalise sex work are State tools that enable the murder of trans migrant women and trans sex workers. We must keep fighting back against these laws and building caring, strong and resistant communities. Fascism and fortresses will fall only through our collective struggles and through allyships with those at the margins and with colonised peoples.”

–  Tayri Fadil, TGEU Board member 

Who is behind trans murders?

Where the perpetrator was known, one in five murders (19%) was committed by a partner, lover or spouse.  Almost a quarter of this year’s murders (25%) took place in the victim’s own home. It is a pattern that echoes previous years: in a society hostile to trans people, even one’s own home is not a safe place.

Organised hate groups and gangs (15%) and strangers (14%) were also commonly reported. Together, these patterns point to violence that reaches trans people everywhere: in their relationships, in their communities, and on the street.

In 12% of cases where the perpetrator was known, the person responsible was a member of the police, military, or army: 13 murders, up from five last year. Nine trans people were murdered or died in suspicious circumstances in prisons or police stations, compared with four last year. These are state institutions, and deaths inside them are violence committed or allowed by the state.

These figures raise hard questions about who is protected, and who is not. Trans people are exposed to hostility, profiling and abuse by state actors, and those with a duty to uphold the law are among those responsible for taking trans lives. When transphobia and transmisogyny shape how these institutions operate, trans people are left more exposed.

When local authorities responded, a perpetrator was arrested in only one in five cases (21%). Judicial processes take time, and some cases move slowly through the system. However, many murders of trans people are not investigated at all; others are investigated without urgency, or are not recorded for what they are. Bias in how murders are investigated and ruled on, including the dismissal of anti-trans motives, means those responsible are less likely to be held to account. For families and communities, the absence of justice can be another loss.

“Every year we witness the predictable result of the systemic hate and repression of trans lives. While remembering our lives, I want to also name who kills us: family members, partners, clients, police, and the institutions that let them. It’s time they answer for it.”

– Isa Nico Borrelli, TGEU Board Chair

Demographic trends

The pattern of who is most at risk has not changed. One in three victims were sex workers, the most targeted group of all known occupations. Almost all (95%) were trans women or transfeminine people, and 76% were Black or Brown trans people.

Recorded victims appear to be getting slightly older, with one in three aged 31 to 40, while one in twenty were minors. Furthermore, reported murders in Asia fell from last year’s all-time high of 51 to 32. This is likely an undercount: some monitoring partners in the region lacked the capacity to provide data this year, citing a lack of electricity and funding.

Recommendations 

TGEU calls on  governments and institutions to:

• Repeal laws and policies that criminalise or restrict trans identities, legal gender recognition, trans specific healthcare, and the public expression of trans and gender diverse identities.
• End the criminalisation of sex work in full and guarantee labour rights and protections for trans and gender-diverse sex workers.
• Harmonise and adopt hate crime and anti-discrimination laws that explicitly protect trans people in employment, education, and other areas, and work towards a shared understanding of what counts as illegal hate speech.
• Ensure prison placement decisions are based on self-determination, irrespective of legal gender recognition status, and include the wishes and welfare of the trans person concerned.
• Back trans human rights defenders and civil society organisations by relieving financial pressures, safeguarding their security, and allowing them to keep organising and advocating for their rights without fear.
• Train professionals to respond appropriately to anti-trans violence, including police forces, with particular attention to those facing intersecting forms of discrimination, including Black trans women and sex workers.
• For EU countries, ensure fully trans-inclusive and timely transposition and implementation of the EU Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence.

TGEU’s research partners 

• 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)
• Horizon Burkina (Burkina Faso)
• Jaringan Transgender Indonesia (Indonesia)
• Jinsiangu (Kenya)
• LakanBini Trans Network (The Philippines)
• Mawjoudin (Tunisia)
• Observatorio de Feminicidios Ensenada (Mexico)
• Observatorio de violaciones a derechos humanos de personas LGTBIQ+ en Nicaragua (Nicaragua)
• OTRANS Guatemala (Guatemala)
• Qıy Vaar (Azerbaijan)
• Qorras (Lebanon)
• Queer Art and Action (India)
• Rede Trans Brasil (Brazil)
• Samabhabona (India)
• STRAP – The Society of Trans Women of the Philippines (The Philippines)
• Trans Lives Matter (United Kingdom)
• Tranz Network Uganda (Uganda)

Note on the term feminicide

TMM uses feminicide rather than femicide as it better reflects the structural and political causes of violence against women and girls. Coined by Marcela Lagarde in Latin America, the term highlights state responsibility and the systemic failures of prevention, protection, and accountability that enable such murders.

More information

• Look at the global map of all reported murders (Jan 2008 – Sep 2026; EN, ES, RU, PT)
• Explore the all-time case library (Jan 2008 – Sep 2026; EN, ES, RU, PT)
• View visualisations of all-time demographic data (Jan 2008 – Sep 2026; EN, ES, RU, PT)
• Read this year’s summary demographics tables (Oct 2025 – Sep 2026; EN, ES)
• Read and print this year’s namelist for TDoR vigils (Oct 2025 – Sep 2026; EN, ES; .csv, .xlsx)

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We work across Europe and Central Asia to advance trans rights, build strong communities, and drive change through research, advocacy, and community-building.

Your donation helps us continue this vital work — defending trans lives, amplifying trans voices, and advocating for justice every day.

The TMM 2026 project was supported by the The Heinrich Böll Foundation (Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung).