Street Gangs - Current Numbers

Current Numbers

In the United States in 2006 there were approximately 785,000 active street gang members, according to the National Youth Gang Center. In 2011 the National Gang Intelligence Center of the Federal Bureau of Investigation asserted that "There are approximately 1.4 million active street, prison, and outlaw gang members comprising more than 33,500 gangs in the United States." Approximately 230,000 gang members were in U.S. prisons or jails in 2011.

The newly released Chicago Crime Commission publication, "The Gang Book 2012", conveyed the statistic that Chicago has more gang members than any other city in the United States: 150,000 members. Traditionally Los Angeles County has been considered the Gang Capital of America, with an estimated 120,000 (41,000 in the City) gang members.

Chicago has a higher rate of gang membership per capita than Los Angeles. The state of Illinois has a higher rate of gang membership (8-11 gang members per 1,000 population) than California (5-7 gang members per 1,000 population).

There were at least 30,000 gangs and 800,000 gang members active across the USA in 2007. About 900,000 gang members lived "within local communities across the country," and about 147,000 were in U.S. prisons or jails in 2009. By 1999, Hispanics accounted for 47% of all gang members, Blacks 31%, Whites 13%, and Asians 6%.

Tribal leaders say Native American communities are being overwhelmed by gang violence and drug trafficking. A Dec. 13, 2009 The New York Times article about growing gang violence on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation estimated that there were 39 gangs with 5,000 members on that reservation alone. Navajo country recently reported 225 gangs in its territory.

There are between 25,000 and 50,000 gang members in Central America's El Salvador.

The Mexican drug cartels have as many as 100,000 foot soldiers.

More than 1,800 gangs were known to be operating in the UK in 2011.

The FBI estimates the size of the four Italian organized crime groups to be approximately 25,000 members and 250,000 affiliates worldwide.

The Russian, Chechen, Azerbaijani, Ukrainian, Georgian, Armenian, and other former Soviet organized crime groups or "Bratvas" have many members and associates affiliated with their various sorts of organized crime but a rough number has not been estimated.

The Yakuza are among one of the largest crime organizations in the world. As of 2005, there are some 102,400 known members in Japan.

Hong Kong's Triads include up to 160,000 members in the 21st century. It was estimated that in the 1950s, there were 300,000 Triad members in Hong Kong.