In 2023, there were 52,723 crimes in Mexico City per 100,000 inhabitants. This represented an increase after two of the lowest values reported the previous years. Furthermore, the number of crime victims per 100,000 inhabitants in Mexico City in 2023, made it the third federal entity with the highest victimization rate in Mexico that year.

A total of over four million crimes were committed in Mexico City in 2023. The northern and eastern regions were the areas that registered the largest number of crimes, with around a million each. The most common type of crime was theft or robbery on the street or public transport, which accounted for nearly a third of all committed crimes.

A total of 816 persons were murdered in Mexico City in 2024. The highest number of intentional homicides was registered in March 2023, with 83 victims.

Colima was the city in Mexico that led the ranking of highest homicide rates in 2023. The city had a murder rate of approximately 140.32 per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Ciudad Obregón, with a homicide rate of 117.83. That year, those two cities had the highest homicide rates not only in Mexico, but in Latin America and the Caribbean.

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.

A total of over 234.474 crimes were reported in Mexico City in 2023. Cuauhtémoc was the municipality with the highest number of reported crimes, with over 33,000 cases. Followed by Iztapalapa and Gustavo A. Madero, the two most populous municipalities in Mexico City.

March 2023 ranked as the month with the highest number of reported crimes in Mexico City during the study period, with 22,125 cases. In contrast, December of that same year recorded the lowest figure with less than 17,000 reported crimes.

In January 2024, the most usual type of crime reported in Mexico was domestic violence. In that month, the cases of this type of violence amounted to around 20,814 cases. Regarding property crimes, the highest number of occurrences were vehicle thefts, with nearly 11,887 reported crimes.

Domestic violence Domestic violence stands out as the crime with the highest incidence and, paradoxically, one of the least attended to by the government. Public spending allocated to combat domestic violence has been dismally low, with a value only around 25 percent of the spending on the military. Adding to the concern, this budget has witnessed a consistent decrease each year since 2015. This decline in resources has had severe consequences, leading to a surge in domestic violence crimes, with many resulting in homicides. It's noteworthy that the majority of registered femicides occur within the confines of closed domestic spaces and are often committed by the partners of the victims. This paints a concerning picture of the challenges faced in addressing and preventing domestic violence.

Mexico and the most violent cities in the world
Mexico hosts seven of the most dangerous cities globally, with Celaya ranking as the number one in terms of murder rate, registering a staggering 109.39 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants and the most of these other cities are concentrated in the upper region of the country, highlighting the significant regional variations in safety and security. On the other hand, the capital, Mexico City, has experienced a decreasing trend in crime incidence, with a notable decrease from 2018 to 2022, nonetheless, the crime rate is still high. As a result, crime and insecurity have become the primary concern for nearly half of the country's population, underscoring the pressing need for addressing these issues.

The border city of Tijuana was the Mexican municipality with the highest number of homicides, with 1,844 cases reported in 2023, a decrease when compared to the over 2,000 cases reported last year. Tijuana was followed by Ciudad Juárez, located south of El Paso, Texas, with a total of 1,246 homicides.

The rate of crime prevalence in Mexico City increased by 0.6 thousand people per 100,000 inhabitants (+1.88 percent) in 2023 in comparison to the previous year. In total, the rate amounted to 32.5 thousand people per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023. This increase was preceded by a declining rate.For more insights about the rate of crime prevalence consider different countries: In 2023, in comparison to Mexico City, the rate in Sonora as well as in Baja California Sur was lower.

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.

This study seeks to examine the effect of the covid-19-related changes in routine activities on crime patterns in an urban area. Using data from Mexico City, I will first identify a suitable proxy measure to estimate the amount of activity outside homes (such as public transit passenger numbers, mobility apps trip queries, or amount of air pollution) before and after the social distancing restrictions imposed due to the Covid-19 epidemic. Then, I will examine if spatio-temporal crime patterns are associated with those of the proxy measures of routine activities.

Using historical data on the size of state-specific Mexican birth cohorts and geographic migration networks between Mexican states and US metropolitan areas, I construct an instrumental variable that predicts decadal migration from Mexico to the United States. The intuition behind this identification strategy is that larger historical birth cohorts in Mexico yield more potential migrants once each birth cohort reaches prime migration age. I report evidence that Mexican immigration is associated with a decline in property crimes and an increase in aggravated assaults. The available evidence suggests that this is not an artifact of reduced crime reporting among immigrants.

This study analyzes whether femicide in Mexico has increased more severely than other life and bodily integrity crimes (e.g., homicide, culpable homicide, injuries, malicious injuries, abortion, and other crimes that threaten life). To achieve this, the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System database was cleaned and the number of femicides per 100,000 inhabitants was calculated, for the period from January 2016 to March 2022 in all states of Mexico. Through descriptive statistics, non-parametric analysis of means, and hypothesis tests, we demonstrate that the states with the highest number of femicides are the Estado de Mexico (State of Mexico), Ciudad de Mexico (Mexico City), and Veracruz; moreover, the number of femicides exhibits a growing trend while the total number of life and bodily integrity crimes does not. Finally, we forecast the number of femicides for the next five months. To our knowledge, there is no other article that analyzes the growth trend of femicide compared to other crimes. Visualizing and understanding that femicide is on the rise compared with other types of crimes can help the government and legislators generate policies that are consistent with the magnitude of the problem.

The average for 2017 based on 65 countries was 1.8 kidnappings per 100,000 people. The highest value was in Belgium: 10.3 kidnappings per 100,000 people and the lowest value was in Bermuda: 0 kidnappings per 100,000 people. The indicator is available from 2003 to 2017. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

In 2023, the State of Mexico was the federal entity with the most crimes per 100,000 inhabitants in Mexico. That year, 32,798 crimes were registered, above Aguascalientes and Mexico City both with over 32,000 crimes. Economically, the cost of crime in Mexico surpassed 282 billion Mexican pesos.

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 the last four years, May has been the most violent month in Mexico in three of them, exception for 2023, when June was the most violent month of the year. The peak of violence happened in May 2021, when an average of 150 people were murdered every day. On the other hand, October 2023 was the least violent month in this period of time, with an average of 125 people murdered daily.

The average number of crimes per victim in Mexico City increased by 0.1 crimes (+7.58 percent) in 2023 in comparison to the previous year. In total, the number amounted to 1.45 crimes in 2023. For more insights about the average number of crimes per victim consider different countries: In 2023, in comparison to Mexico City, the number in Nayarit as well as in Nuevo León was lower.

A total of over 234.474 crimes were reported in Mexico City in 2023, a significantly smaller figure than the estimate of the total number of crimes. The western and southern regions were the areas that registered the largest number of reported crimes.