WASHINGTON D.C.: According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), murders in the U.S. rose by 30 percent from 2019 to 2020, the steepest-ever one-year increase.

The agency’s annual Uniform Crime Report, released earlier this week, detailed how more than 21,000 homicides were reported last year, reaching its peak during the summer of the COVID-19 pandemic. Violent crime also witnessed a rise of 5 percent between 2019 and 2020.

However, these figures are not comprehensive due to missing data, as only 85 percent of law enforcement agencies submitted their crime-related statistics in 2020, CNN reported.

Several large metropolitan areas, including New York, Chicago and New Orleans, also did not share their data.

Another factor that could have led to less participation by agencies is the fact that the FBI recently changed its reporting system to the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS), which requires police agencies to enter more specific details for each recorded offense.

A general rise in gun violence coincided with the rise in murders, with mass unemployment, school closures, children confined at home and widespread panic over the pandemic causing social turmoil and possibly contributing to increased gun deaths, including suicides.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, between 2019 and 2020 gun-related fatalities rose by some 4,000.

While police in many large cities are anticipating more homicides next year, the rate of increase seems to be flattening and the overall crime rate has been declining over the past twenty years, including in 2020, according to the FBI.