In 2024, Brazil's homicide rate reached **** incidents per 100,000 people. This is the lowest figure recorded in the country since 2012.

The homicide rate registered in Brazil impacts ethnicities very differently. Whereas the number of homicides per 100,000 black or brown people increased to ** percent from 2006 to 2017, the homicide rate of non-black or brown individuals declined to nearly ***percent in the same period. In 2023, the homicide rate for the black ethnic group decreased compared to the previous year.

In 2024, six of the eight Brazilian cities with the highest homicide rates were in the Northeast. Feira da Santana led the ranking of the most violent city in Brazil, with a murder rate of ***** per 100,000 inhabitants. It was followed followed by Recife, with a homicide rate of more than ** per 100,000 inhabitants. In Latin America and the Caribbean, Feira da Santana was the **** most deadly city.

Historical dataset showing Brazil crime rate per 100K population by year from 1990 to 2020.

Content

This dataset contain official crime statistics from São Paulo state cities (Brazil) and were prepared based on information available on the Civil State Police statistics site: http://www.ssp.sp.gov.br/Estatistica/Pesquisa.aspx

• Period available:

  • Crime Monthly Occurrences and Policy productivity: 2001 - May, 2021 Note: in both datasets, decimal separator is a point (".") .

  • Crime rates (annual rates available): 1999 -2020 (available for some of the cities) Note: in this dataset, decimal separator is a comma (",") .

• Data and labels in brazilian portuguese.

• Information about crime type interpretation (available only in brazilian portuguese) in: http://www.ssp.sp.gov.br/Estatistica/download/manual.pdf

• Datasets prepared with Selenium (webscraping) and Pandas libraries in Python.

Author: Dalciana B. Waller https://github.com/DBWALLER

In 2024, Pernambuco reported the highest homicide rate in the country, at nearly **** occurrences per 100,000 inhabitants. Ceará, in the country's northeastern region, ranked second, with **** homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. Meanwhile, in 2022, Bahia also ranked first in numbers of homicides, with around ***** occurrences reported.

In 2024, the number of homicides in Brazil reached its lowest level of the entire period under review, with approximately 39,000 occurrences. By comparison, there were more than 60,000 homicides in the country in 2017.

The number of black and Pardo Brazilian people murdered in Brazil had been increasing throughout the years up until 2017. In 2023, around 33,350 black and Pardo citizens were killed in the South American country, down from almost 35,500 recorded one year before.

Abstract Violence against LGBT people has always been present in our society. Brazil is the country with the highest number of lethal crimes against LGBT people in the world. The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics of homicides of LGBT people in Brazil using spatial analysis. The LGBT homicide rate was used to facilitate the visualization of the geographical distribution of homicides. Public thoroughfares and the victim’s home were the most common places of occurrence. The most commonly used methods for killing male homosexuals and transgender people were cold weapons and firearms, respectively; however, homicides frequently involved beatings, suffocation, and other cruelties. The large majority of victims were aged between 20 and 49 years and typically white or brown. The North, Northeast and Central-West regions, precisely the regions with the lowest HDI, presented LGBT homicide rates above the national rate. LGBT homicides are typically hate crimes and constitute a serious public health problem because they affect young people, particularly transgender people. This problem needs to be addressed by the government, starting with the criminalization of homophobia and the subsequent formulation of public policies to reduce hate crimes and promote respect for diversity.

Historical dataset showing Brazil murder/homicide rate per 100K population by year from 1990 to 2020.

Brazil BR: Intentional Homicides: per 100,000 People data was reported at 22.384 Ratio in 2020. This records an increase from the previous number of 20.810 Ratio for 2019. Brazil BR: Intentional Homicides: per 100,000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 26.021 Ratio from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2020, with 31 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 30.593 Ratio in 2017 and a record low of 16.656 Ratio in 1992. Brazil BR: Intentional Homicides: per 100,000 People data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Brazil – Table BR.World Bank.WDI: Social: Health Statistics. Intentional homicides are estimates of unlawful homicides purposely inflicted as a result of domestic disputes, interpersonal violence, violent conflicts over land resources, intergang violence over turf or control, and predatory violence and killing by armed groups. Intentional homicide does not include all intentional killing; the difference is usually in the organization of the killing. Individuals or small groups usually commit homicide, whereas killing in armed conflict is usually committed by fairly cohesive groups of up to several hundred members and is thus usually excluded.;UN Office on Drugs and Crime's International Homicide Statistics database.;Weighted average;

In 2022, the state of Bahia reported the largest number of homicides in Brazil. That year, ***** homicides were recorded in this northeastern state. Bahia was followed by the state of Rio de Janeiro, with ***** murders reported. Despite that, the number of homicides in Brazil reached the lowest figure that year since at least 2006, totaling ******. Homicide targets Data shows that homicides affected men disproportionaly more than women in this South American country. Considering the over ****** homicides registered in Brazil in 2022, nearly ** percent had men as victims. Again, it is important to remember the deterioration of data quality, specially in the case of femicides: there was a woman victim of violent death with no clear cause for every woman victim of homicide in Brazil. In that regard, the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Rondônia had the highest femicide rates. At least ***** of every 100,000 women who lived in those territories were murdered on account of their gender in 2023. Not only women, but the number of black and brown people murdered in Brazil had been growing throughout the years up until 2017, revealing that minorities are increasingly becoming the targets of violence. In 2022, nearly ****** people of color were killed in Brazil, over ***** times the number of non-black or non-brown people. Police Violence Police brutality has been gaining attention from the media, especially after George Floyd violent death in 2020. In Brazil, police violence, particularly in poor areas, such as favelas, is an old and well-known problem that affects society as a whole. Figures have shown that the number of civilians killed by police officers in Brazil surpassed ***** in both 2021 and 2022. Coincidentally, Rio de Janeiro and Bahia, the Brazilian states with the highest number of homicides, are also the ones with the highest number of people killed by the police. In Rio, the state with the second-highest figure, people of color were the main victims of deadly police interventions.

Brazil BR: Intentional Homicides: Male: per 100,000 Male data was reported at 53.128 Ratio in 2015. This records an increase from the previous number of 52.224 Ratio for 2014. Brazil BR: Intentional Homicides: Male: per 100,000 Male data is updated yearly, averaging 44.855 Ratio from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2015, with 16 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 53.128 Ratio in 2015 and a record low of 40.825 Ratio in 2010. Brazil BR: Intentional Homicides: Male: per 100,000 Male data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Brazil – Table BR.World Bank: Health Statistics. Intentional homicides, male are estimates of unlawful male homicides purposely inflicted as a result of domestic disputes, interpersonal violence, violent conflicts over land resources, intergang violence over turf or control, and predatory violence and killing by armed groups. Intentional homicide does not include all intentional killing; the difference is usually in the organization of the killing. Individuals or small groups usually commit homicide, whereas killing in armed conflict is usually committed by fairly cohesive groups of up to several hundred members and is thus usually excluded.; ; UN Office on Drugs and Crime's International Homicide Statistics database.; ;

BackgroundHomicide kills more people than war globally and is associated with income inequality. In Brazil, one of the most unequal countries of the world, the homicide rate is four times higher than the world average. Establishing if the Brazilian conditional cash transfer programme [Bolsa Familia Programme (BFP)], the largest in the world, is associated with a reduction in the rate of homicide is relevant for violence prevention programs. We aimed to assess the effect of BFP coverage on homicide and hospitalization rates from violence.MethodsBFP coverage and rates of homicide (overall and disaggregated by sex and age) and hospitalizations from violence from all 5,507 Brazilian municipalities between 2004 and 2012 were explored using multivariable negative binomial regression models with fixed effect for panel data. Robustness of results was explored using sensitivity analyses such as difference-in-difference models.FindingsHomicide rates and hospitalization from violence decreased as BFP coverage in the target population increased. For each percent increase in the uptake of the BFP, the homicide rate decreased by 0.3% (Rate Ratio:0.997; 95%CI:0.996–0.997) and hospitalizations from violence by 0.4% (RR: 0.996;95%CI:0.995–0.996). Rates of homicide and hospitalizations from violence were also negatively associated with the duration of BFP coverage. When, coverage of the target population was at least 70% for one-year, hospitalizations from violence decreased by 8%; two-years 14%, three-years 20%, and four years 25%.InterpretationOur results support the hypothesis that conditional cash transfer programs might have as an additional benefit the prevention of homicides and hospitalizations from violence. Social protection interventions could contribute to decrease levels of violence in low-and-middle-income-countries through reducing poverty and/or socioeconomic inequalities.

Abstract The aim of this study was to determine the level of underreporting of violent crimes against property in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, using stochastic frontier analysis. Failure to report a crime to competent authorities has negative consequences for the effectiveness of public safety policies, because policy decisions regarding criminal matters are based on official crime statistics, which in turn are biased by underreporting. An awareness of the magnitude of underreporting should help policy makers to design more appropriate crime prevention strategies. The database used for the study defines armed robbery, robbery, and theft as violent crimes against property. The main results of the study show that, from 2004 to 2011, 32.7% of all violent crimes against property in the state were not reported. A robustness test was carried out on the estimates by employing the same technique to calculate the level of underreporting for the homicide rate, which is the least unreported crime.

Brazil BR: Intentional Homicides: Female: per 100,000 Female data was reported at 4.441 Ratio in 2015. This records a decrease from the previous number of 4.461 Ratio for 2014. Brazil BR: Intentional Homicides: Female: per 100,000 Female data is updated yearly, averaging 3.884 Ratio from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2015, with 16 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 4.461 Ratio in 2014 and a record low of 3.649 Ratio in 2007. Brazil BR: Intentional Homicides: Female: per 100,000 Female data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Brazil – Table BR.World Bank: Health Statistics. Intentional homicides, female are estimates of unlawful female homicides purposely inflicted as a result of domestic disputes, interpersonal violence, violent conflicts over land resources, intergang violence over turf or control, and predatory violence and killing by armed groups. Intentional homicide does not include all intentional killing; the difference is usually in the organization of the killing. Individuals or small groups usually commit homicide, whereas killing in armed conflict is usually committed by fairly cohesive groups of up to several hundred members and is thus usually excluded.; ; UN Office on Drugs and Crime's International Homicide Statistics database.; ;

The Rio de Janeiro (RJ) municipality presents one of the highest crime rates in Brazil. However, since the 2000s, a significant reduction of lethal crimes has been observed. Given this scenario, the aim of this study is to analyze the factors that determined this phenomenon. Among them, it seeks to assess the effects of the Pacifying Police Unit (Unidade de Polícia Pacificadora - UPP). To this end, the statistical error correction vector (ECV) method was used. This study allowed for the analysis of short- and long-term relationships between crime rates and variables associated with economic activity and police action. The applied dataset comprises the period between April 2002 and August 2019. The main results indicate that UPP implementation contributed to lethal crime reduction in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro. Furthermore, the results show that coercive police action tends to increase crime rates.

Although Brazil remains severely affected by civil violence, the state of São Paulo has made significant inroads into fighting criminality. In the last decade, São Paulo has witnessed a 70% decline in homicide rates, a result that policy-makers attribute to a series of crime-reducing measures implemented by the state government. While recent academic studies seem to confirm this downward trend, no estimation of the total impact of state policies on homicide rates currently exists. The present article fills this gap by employing the synthetic control method to compare these measures against an artificial São Paulo. The results indicate a large drop in homicide rates in actual São Paulo when contrasted with the synthetic counterfactual, with about 20,000 lives saved during the period. The theoretical usefulness of the synthetic control method for public policy analysis, the role of the Primeiro Comando da Capital as a causal mediator, and the practical implications of the security measures taken by the São Paulo state government are also discussed.

The number of violent crimes against property registered in Brazil showed a downward trend from 2017 to 2020. After an increase in 2021 and 2022, this number decreased again in 2024, with ****** such cases in the South American country.Furthermore, most of the violent crimes against property in Brazil consist of vehicle thefts and break-ins.

Considering the over 46,000 homicides registered in Brazil in 2022, almost 92 percent had men as victims. Meanwhile, approximately 3,810 women were killed in the South American country that year.