Study Calling Mexico World's Second Deadliest Country Wrong, Researchers Admit

A search institute behind a much-debated fatality report that placed Mexico second to Syria admitted Friday its methodology was flawed after the figures came between the US president and Mexican authorities.

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) — The annual Armed Conflict Survey by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said Mexico came in second with 23,000 armed-conflict fatalities in 2016. Syria was first with 50,000. President Donald Trump grabbed on to these findings to justify his plan to build a southern border wall.

But the IISS has now released a statement admitting that, "there was a methodological flaw in our calculation of estimated conflict fatalities that requires revision."

It contradicted Trump’s statement that Mexico was ranked "the second deadliest country in the world," stressing the May report did not measure homicides on either an absolute or per capita basis. Trump also claimed that drug trade was largely the cause of fatalities.

The Mexican foreign ministry hit back on Thursday, citing UN figures that put it behind Honduras, Venezuela, Belize, Colombia and Brazil in terms of murders per capita. The secretariat also blamed the United States for drug-related violence, saying it created demand.