Hmm. Population of NI: 1.8m. Population of Baltimore: 600k (declining! as shown by a helpful google graph). So NI is three Baltimores.

Worst year of Troubles: 1972, 479 troubles-related deaths. I'm unclear as to whether that includes "background" non-political crime, so I'll round it up to 500 (current NI murder rate is about 1/100k pop).

Current Baltimore murder rate: 373 in 2017.

Murder rate for three Baltimores: 1119.

That makes today's Baltimore twice as lethal as Troubles NI, with all its carbombs and troops on the streets.

It's a mess that to me would seem to warrant national intervention. https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21724399-americ...

That is a fascinating comparison but one aspect that may not make it a fair is comparing NI region vs. city. It would be interesting to compare just Belfast to Baltimore because thats where the majority of deaths happened.

edit: add a dodgy esimation

Belfast poulation in 70's: 431k

% of troubles deaths in Belfast : 43%

=> murder rate: 479 * 0.43 / 431 = 44 homicides per 100k

But as you note, the NI figures is only the political murders so it can only really be compared against a similar subset of Baltimore homicides e.g. "gang violence".