In 2024, there were more than 16 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in Guatemala, the second consecutive decrease. The murder rate in Guatemala decreased consistently from 2014 to 2020, when it fell to less 15 victims per 100,000 inhabitants.

In 2024, 2,869 people were murdered in Guatemala. This is the lowest death toll of the last three years. Guatemala still has higher homicide rates than other Central American countries such as Panama and Costa Rica.

Since 2012, the corruption perception index score in Guatemala has been overall continuously decreasing. In 2022, the country registered 24 points, the same as the previous year. Guatemala ranks at the bottom among other Latin American countries on their perceived corruption index score. This index is a composite indicator that includes data on the perception of corruption in areas such as bribery of public officials, kickbacks in public procurement, embezzlement of state funds, and effectiveness of governments' anti-corruption efforts. The worst possible score is 0, whereas a score of 100 indicates that no corruption is perceived in the respective country.

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.

In 2024, Guatemala scored 5.45 in the money laundering and terrorism financing risk index. Since 2019, the risk score of this country has been continuously increasing. Still, other Central American countries such as Panama and Honduras had a higher risk of money laundering and terrorist financing than Guatemala.The Basel AML Index is a composite index, a combination of 16 different indicators with regards to corruption, financial standards, political disclosure and rule of law and tries to measure the risk level of money laundering and terrorist financing in different countries. The numbers used are based on publicly available sources such as the FATF, Transparency International, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum and are meant to serve as a starting point for further investigation.

Actual value and historical data chart for Guatemala Political Stability And Absence Of Violence Terrorism Estimate

The Central American nation with the highest prison occupancy rate, as of April 2025, was Guatemala, when the level stood at almost 300 percent of its official capacity. Nicaragua followed with 177.6 percent of occupancy level. The lowest prison occupancy rate was found in Belize, which, with 67 percent, was the only country whose prison system was not overcrowded. That year, El Salvador had the highest prison population rate in Central America.

In 2024, around 21.7 homicides were committed per 100,000 inhabitants in Belize, slightly up from a murder rate of 21.5 registered a year earlier. Neighboring Guatemala has experienced lower homicide rates than Belize in recent years.