In 2023, the homicide rate in Brazil reached 22.8 incidents per 100,000 inhabitants. The lowest number in the country since 2012 was recorded in 2021, when a homicide rate of 22.3 was recorded.

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 55.63 per 100,000 inhabitants. It was followed followed by Recife, with a homicide rate of more than 41 per 100,000 inhabitants. In Latin America and the Caribbean, Feira da Santana was the 22nd most deadly city.

Brazil murder/homicide rate per 100K population for 2020 was 22.38, a 7.56% increase from 2019.

• Brazil murder/homicide rate per 100K population for 2019 was 20.81, a 21.87% decline from 2018.
• Brazil murder/homicide rate per 100K population for 2018 was 26.64, a 12.93% decline from 2017.
• Brazil murder/homicide rate per 100K population for 2017 was 30.59, a 3.39% increase from 2016.

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.

The number of cargo thefts registered in Brazil has been oscillating throughout the years. In 2018, approximately 23.3 thousand cargo thefts were reported in the South American country, down from nearly 26 thousand cases recorded one year before.Moreover, violent crimes against property in Brazil include car theft and break-in.

In 2023, it was estimated that approximately 1.4 per 100,000 Brazilian women were killed on account of their gender, around the same femicide rate recorded a year earlier. The number of femicides in Brazil has increased recently.

The number of femicides — murders committed against women because of their gender — in Brazil slightly increased in 2023, in comparison to the previous year. Throughout 2023, 1,467 femicides were registered in Brazil, up from 1,455 recorded one year before. That year, the Brazilian state with the highest number of femicides was São Paulo.

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 2022, around 35,500 black and Pardo citizens were killed in the South American country, down from almost 37,000 recorded one year before.

During a 2018 survey, approximately 45.3 percent of respondents in Brazil stated that street violence was the most frequent type of violence in the South American country. Moreover, 25.8 percent of the interviewees mentioned domestic violence against women and around 17.9 percent cited gang violence.Furthermore, it has been recently found that most of the Brazilian population is afraid of suffering violence from the police.

The annual robbery rate in the city of Rio de Janeiro has stabilized since 2020, after it more than doubled from roughly 850 robberies per 100,000 inhabitants in 2012 to almost 1,900 in 2017. The sharpest decline in the robbery rate occurred between 2019 and 2020 when it fell from 1,500 to below 1,000 thefts, reflecting a decrease of approximately 38 percent. In 2024, the annual robbery rate was 973 thefts per 100,000 inhabitants, however this still equates to almost one percent of the population being robbed each year.

The number of homicides with firearms has been increasing in Brazil throughout the years up until 2017. In that year, approximately 47.51 thousand murders were committed with guns in the South American country, up from around 44.48 thousand homicides recorded a year earlier. However, by 2022 it had decreased to over 33,000

In 2024, the highest homicide rate among 22 Latin American and Caribbean countries surveyed was in Haiti, with around 62 murders committed per 100,000 inhabitants. Trinidad and Tobago came in second, with a homicide rate of 46, while Honduras ranked seventh, with 25. In the same year, the lowest rate was recorded in El Salvador, with a homicide rate of 1.9 per 100,000 inhabitants. A violence-ridden region Violence and crime are some of the most pressing problems affecting Latin American society nowadays. More than 40 of the 50 most dangerous cities in the world are located in this region, as well as one of the twenty countries with the least peace in the world according to the Global Peace Index. Despite governments’ large spending on security and high imprisonment rates, drug and weapon trafficking, organized crime, and gangs have turned violence into an epidemic that affects the whole region and a solution to this issue appears to be hardly attainable. The cost of violence in Mexico Mexico stands out as an example of the great cost that violence inflicts upon a country, since beyond claiming human lives, it also affects everyday life and has a negative impact on the economy. Mexicans have a high perceived level of insecurity, as they do not only fear becoming victims of homicide, but also of other common crimes, such as assault or rape. Such fear prevents people from performing everyday activities, for instance, going out at night, taking a taxi or going to the movies or the theater. Furthermore, the economic toll of violence in Mexico is more than considerable. For example, the cost of homicide and violent crime amounted to 2099.8 and 1778.1 billion Mexican pesos in 2023, respectively.

Several countries located in Central America and the Caribbean registered some of the highest homicide rates in the Latin American region in 2022. Jamaica ranked first, with around 53.34 homicides committed per 100,000 inhabitants. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines came second, with 40.41 homicides per 100,000 people. The source defines intentional homicide as the unlawful death inflicted upon a person with the intent to cause death or serious injury. When it comes to the total case count, Brazil was the Latin American country with the largest number of homicide victims. Central America and the falling rates El Salvador was commonly named the murder capital of the world for a few years. The inability of previous governments to control organized crime and gangs resulted in the highest homicide rate in the world for a couple of years. Nonetheless, the current administration and the measures applied during the Emergency State had an incredibly positive impact in terms of the security of the Salvadorean citizens. But not only El Salvador has seen a considerable reduction in its murder rate in Central America. Honduras and Guatemala are also two great examples of crime reduction, introducing new policies, institutions, and changes to their judicial system to achieve better results.
The Caribbean still ridden by crime Some islands in the Caribbean are not only known as tax heavens, as some nations in the region are considered the main enablers of tax evasion in the world, but also for being ridden by crime. Haiti is one example of the still rising levels of criminality. As a country with precarious conditions and extreme food insecurity, the homicide rate has been on the rise for almost four consecutive years. Another one is Jamaica, the top of the Latin American ranking, that has also seen an increase in the youth involved in organized crime due to lack of employment and economic conditions.

The number of people murdered in Mexico amounted to almost 33,300 in 2021, a slightly lower figure to the one registered one year earlier. Mexico ranked as the second Latin American country with the highest number of intentional homicides in 2022, only exceeded by Brazil.

In 2023, the reported number of rape cases in Brazil almost doubled from the year 2011 to 2022. In that year, 83,988 incidents were reported, which equates to an average of 230 rape cases per day.

In 2024, Colima in Mexico ranked as the world's most dangerous city with a homicide rate of 140 per 100,000 inhabitants. Seven of the 10 cities with the highest murder rates worldwide are all found in Mexico. The list does not include countries where war and conflict exist. Latin America dominate murder statistics Except for Mandela Bay, all the cities on the list are found in Latin America. Latin America also dominate the list of the world's most dangerous countries. Violence in Latin America is caused in great part by drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, and gang wars. Crime in South Africa Mandela Bay in South Africa is the only city outside Latin America among the 10 most dangerous cities worldwide. The country is struggling with extremely high levels of inequality, and is struggling with high levels of crime and power outages, harming the country's economy and driving more people into unemployment and poverty.

There were 758 fatalities due to shootings recorded in 2024 in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This represents a decrease of 21 percent in comparison to the deaths caused by firearms in the previous year. An overall 2.532, shootings were registered in the region that year.

Brazil led the list with a total of 4,390 kidnapping cases in the latest available data. Ecuador followed with 1,246 occurrences in 2022. On the flip side, there was only three reported kidnapping in the Antigua and Barbuda during that year. Homicides, another recurrent problem in Latin America Among the region's prevalent offenses, intentional homicide emerged as one of the main concerns in the region. Nonetheless, the rates vary among the different countries. Brazil leads the ranking of the most number of homicides in Latin America, as well as being the most populated country by far. On the other hand, Jamaica holds the top position according to the homicide rate, reporting nearly 61 instances per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023. Nevertheless, even with these varying homicide rates across countries, four out of five of the world's most perilous urban centers are situated in Mexico, with Colima leading the pack at a 2024 homicide rate of 140 per 100,000 inhabitants.

Cost of violence in Central America Following criminal acts, the responsibility for addressing the consequences falls squarely on the government, causing government expenditure to surge, called the cost of violence. Notably, Panama is more severely impacted in Central America, with the economic cost of violence per inhabitant accounting for over 3,771 U.S. dollars in 2022. In terms of a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), El Salvador takes the first place with a value of 15 percent of their GDP.

In 2022, at least 34 land activists or environmentalists were murdered in Brazil. In 2017, the homicide of 57 citizens fighting in land conflicts or for environmental causes had been documented, which made it the deadliest year for Brazil based on this type of politically motivated murder since 2013.

In 2023, Brazil registered a total of 1,463 murder cases that were classified as femicide, or the killing of a woman or girl on account of their gender. Meanwhile, the number of women killed on account of their gender in Mexico reached 852 in that same year.