Killings increased by close to 70 percent in El Salvador last year, authorities said Monday.

The Central American country, plagued with violence and gangs, had its highest homicide rate ever in 2015, putting it in position to claim the title of the world's most violent nation, The Associated Press reports.

According to National Police director Mauricio Ramirez Landaverde, El Salvador officially registered at least 6,657 homicides last year, bringing the yearly murder rate to 104 per 100,000 inhabitants.

By contrast, the country registered 3,942 homicides in 2014.

"[The homicide rate] puts us at the head of the world's most violent nations," said researcher Jeanette Aguilar of Jose Siemeon Canas Central America University.

With the latest numbers, El Salvador looks to exceed its neighboring country Honduras, often referred to as the world's murder capital.

Honduras led the world in homicide rate the last two years. According to World Bank data, it reached its peak in 2011 with 92 homicides per 100,000 in habitants, though numbers have declined somewhat since. Security Ministry spokesman Leonel Sauceda said Monday that the nation's murder rate fell from 68 per 100,000 in 2014, to 61 per 100,000 last year.

Venezuela, on the other hand, has seen growing homicide numbers. While the South American nation has not released its official stats since 2013 when it notched a 39 per 100,000 murder rate, a non-governmental organization recently placed the country's 2015 homicide rate at 90 per 100,000.

Most of the El Salvador killings are due to gangs, colloquially known as "maras," who engage in drug trafficking and extortion amongst other crimes. While they mostly reside in impoverished urban neighborhoods, reports say they have expanded into rural areas as well.

Authorities say the majority of the homicide victims are rival gang members. In fact, the spike in violence can be traced back to the failing of a truce between the country's two largest gangs.

"The homicide rate reflects the inability of the Salvadoran state and the Salvadoran society to guarantee the most fundamental right there can be in a society, which is life," Aguilar said.