Every November, just before Trans Day of Remembrance, the European trans rights network TGEU publishes the closest thing the world has to a global count of murdered trans people. This year’s number is 273.

That’s 273 trans and gender-diverse people reported murdered between October 1, 2025 and September 30, 2026: roughly one every 32 hours, according to TGEU’s Trans Murder Monitoring 2026 update, published on November 11.

It lands in the middle of Transgender Awareness Week (November 13 to 19). Here’s what’s in it, and what it can and can’t tell us.

The headline numbers

From TGEU’s release and its 2026 summary tables:

  • 273 reported murders, in 35 countries. That’s the second-highest number of countries since monitoring began; only 2024 was higher, with 38.
  • 95% of victims were trans women or transfeminine people. TGEU calls these feminicides.
  • One in three (32%) were sex workers, still the most targeted of all known occupations.
  • About three in four victims were Black or Brown.
  • 16 victims were activists or community leaders, according to the tables.
  • TGEU has now recorded more than 5,500 murders since it started counting in 2009.

Europe: 13 murders, as many as the last two years together

The European figure is the one that jumps out. “In Europe, 13 murders were reported this year,” TGEU writes. “That is as many as in 2024 and 2025 combined.”

According to the tables, they were reported in Spain (3), Georgia (2), Italy (2), Türkiye (2), and one each in Austria, Azerbaijan, Romania and the United Kingdom. TGEU says most of the victims in Europe were international migrants, almost all were trans women or transfeminine, and a third were sex workers. Romania reported a murder for the first time; so did Cameroon.

That migrant pattern is something TGEU board member Tayri Fadil points to directly, describing laws that target migrants and asylum seekers as tools that enable the killing of trans migrant women and trans sex workers. “Fascism and fortresses will fall only through our collective struggles,” Fadil says in the release.

Where most murders were reported

Most cases came from Latin America and the Caribbean: 189 of 273, or about seven in ten. Brazil alone accounted for 86, close to a third of the global total. Mexico recorded 29, its lowest since 2011, while Argentina’s 16 is the highest ever recorded there.

The United States recorded 29, around one in ten worldwide and close to last year’s 31. Asia’s count fell from 51 to 32, which TGEU says is likely an undercount.

Who is responsible, and who gets arrested

Where a perpetrator was known, TGEU found partners or spouses, organised hate groups or gangs, strangers and clients among them. The number of killings by police, military or army rose to 13, up from five last year, and nine trans people were murdered or died in suspicious circumstances in prisons or police stations.

Justice is rare. A perpetrator was arrested in only one in five murders (21%) where local authorities documented a response.

“Every year we witness the predictable result of the systemic hate and repression of trans lives,” says TGEU board chair Isa Nico Borrelli.

What the count can’t show

TGEU is upfront about the limits, and they matter:

  • It counts reported murders only. Many killings are never recorded, or the victim is misgendered in police and press reports, so the real number is almost certainly higher.
  • Raw counts, not risk. The figures aren’t adjusted for population. Latin America has long-established monitoring networks, so more cases are documented there. A low number elsewhere may mean less reporting, not more safety.
  • Reporting is getting harder. TGEU cites shrinking civic space, hostile media and states, and funding cuts. Some partners in Asia didn’t have the resources, including electricity, to send data this year.

What TGEU is asking for

The network’s recommendations to governments include:

  • Repeal laws that criminalise or restrict trans identities, legal gender recognition, trans healthcare or public expression.
  • Fully decriminalise sex work and guarantee labour protections for trans sex workers.
  • Pass hate crime and anti-discrimination laws that explicitly cover trans people, and train police and other professionals on anti-trans violence.
  • Fund and protect trans human rights defenders.
  • In the EU, implement the Directive on violence against women and domestic violence fully and inclusively.

Remembering, and living

Trans Day of Remembrance on November 20 is about names, not just numbers. TGEU publishes a name list from the report so vigils can read them aloud, and an interactive map and case library for anyone who wants to look deeper.

The week before it, Transgender Awareness Week, is about the living: trans people building careers, families, art and community, in every country on that map. Both are true at once. If you’re going to a vigil this year, go with friends, look after each other, and remember that the people doing this counting are mostly trans people themselves, documenting their own community so that nobody is forgotten.