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.
In 2023, the economic impact caused by homicide in Mexico amounted to over *** trillion Mexican pesos. This amount represents **** percent of the total economic losses suffered due to violence in the Latin American country. Other violent crimes followed homicide with an economic impact of **** trillion pesos that year.
In 2023, a total of ****** homicides were registered in Mexico, over *** murder victims less than the death toll reported a year earlier. The number of homicides in Mexico, including intentional homicides and cases of manslaughter, grew between 2015 and 2018, before plateauing around ****** victims per year. Kidnapping in Mexico In Mexico, even with a ** percent reduction in the kidnapping rate, which amounted to *** reported cases in 2023, the region continues to witness the distressing reality of **** individuals being subjected to violent abduction daily. These heinous acts are chiefly perpetrated in various settings, including workplaces, residences, and public areas. Furthermore, the state with the highest recorded kidnapping incidence is Mexico State, marking a significant disparity in numbers. This dire situation positions the country as the third highest in terms of kidnapping occurrences throughout Latin America. The increasing cases of human trafficking Regarded as a grievous form of exploitation encompassing coerced labor or sexual servitude, the prevalence of human trafficking in the nation exhibits a disquieting escalation. This trend coincides with a decline in cases involving children, shifting the focus towards teens and adolescents, particularly females, who are now the primary target demographic. Perpetrators manipulate victims through deceitful practices and fraudulent schemes, effectively entrapping them in a web of organized criminal activities that deprive them of their freedom.
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<li>Mexico murder/homicide rate per 100K population for 2020 was <strong>29.19</strong>, a <strong>0.42% decline</strong> from 2019.</li>
<li>Mexico murder/homicide rate per 100K population for 2019 was <strong>29.31</strong>, a <strong>0.92% decline</strong> from 2018.</li>
<li>Mexico murder/homicide rate per 100K population for 2018 was <strong>29.58</strong>, a <strong>13.28% increase</strong> from 2017.</li>
</ul>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.
On average, 25 people were murdered every 100,000 inhabitants in Mexico in 2022, down from 28 homicide cases per 100,000 people the previous year. Mexico's murder rate increased remarkably between 2015 and 2018. Between January and June of 2023, the homicide rate stood at 12 cases.
Crime and violence in Mexico
Street violence and crime are some of the most pressing problems affecting Mexican society today. A recent survey revealed that, on average, almost 76 percent of the adult population felt unsafe. The perceived level of insecurity in Mexico is more worrisome among women than men. In recent years, violence against women in Mexico has significantly worsened.
Violence against women in Mexico
The number of femicides registered in Mexico has more than doubled between 2015 and 2023. Up to 827 women were murdered in Mexico in 2023 solely on account of their gender. Over the past decade, Mexico adopted this federal criminal typification to address the increasing cases of homicide motivated by gender. Mexico State was the region with the largest number of femicides reported as such in 2023, whereas Colima stood out as the Mexican state with the highest prevalence of femicides, based on 100,000 women.
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Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism: Standard Error in Mexico was reported at 0.20538 in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Mexico - Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism: Standard Error - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.
Organized intergroup violence is almost universally modeled as a calculated act motivated by economic factors. In contrast, it is generally assumed that non-economic factors, such as an individual’s emotional state, play a role in many types of interpersonal violence, such as crimes of passion. We ask whether non-economic factors can also explain the well-established relationship between temperature and violence in a unique context where intergroup killings by drug-trafficking organizations (DTOs) and other interpersonal homicides are separately documented. A constellation of evidence, including the limited influence of a cash transfer program as well as comparisons with both other DTO crime and suicides, indicate that economic factors only partially mitigate the relationship between temperature and violence that we estimate in Mexico. We argue that non-economic psychological and physiological factors that are affected by temperature, modeled here as a “taste for violence,” likely play an important role in causing both interpersonal and intergroup violence.
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This project provides a comprehensive dataset on intentional homicides in Mexico from 1990 to 2023, disaggregated by sex and state. It includes both raw data and tools for visualization, making it a valuable resource for researchers, policymakers, and analysts studying violence trends, gender disparities, and regional patterns.ContentsHomicide Data: Total number of male and female victims per state and year.Population Data: Corresponding male and female population estimates for each state and year.Homicide Rates: Per 100,000 inhabitants, calculated for both sexes.Choropleth Map Script: A Python script that generates homicide rate maps using a GeoJSON file.GeoJSON File: A spatial dataset defining Mexico's state boundaries, used for mapping.Sample Figure: A pre-generated homicide rate map for 2023 as an example.Requirements File: A requirements.txt file listing necessary dependencies for running the script.SourcesHomicide Data: INEGI - Vital Statistics MicrodataPopulation Data: Mexican Population Projections 2020-2070This dataset enables spatial analysis and data visualization, helping users explore homicide trends across Mexico in a structured and reproducible way.
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Mexico MX: Intentional Homicides: per 100,000 People data was reported at 19.264 Ratio in 2016. This records an increase from the previous number of 16.492 Ratio for 2015. Mexico MX: Intentional Homicides: per 100,000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 14.139 Ratio from Dec 1995 (Median) to 2016, with 22 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 22.851 Ratio in 2011 and a record low of 7.929 Ratio in 2007. Mexico MX: 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 Mexico – Table MX.World Bank.WDI: 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;
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Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism: Percentile Rank in Mexico was reported at 22.75 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Mexico - Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism: Percentile Rank - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.
Mexican cartels lose many members due to conflict with other cartels and arrests. Yet, despite their losses, cartels managed to increase violence for years. We address this puzzle by leveraging data on homicides, missing persons and arrests in Mexico for the past decade, along with information on cartel interactions. We model recruitment, state incapacitation, conflict and saturation as sources of cartel size variation. Results show that by 2022, cartels counted 160,000–185,000 units, becoming a top employer. Recruiting at least 350 people per week is essential to avoid their collapse due to aggregate losses. Furthermore, we show that increasing incapacitation would increase both homicides and cartel members. Conversely, reducing recruitment could substantially curtail violence and lower cartel size., Data obtained from Plataforma de Proyección de Datos Abierta, was processed to obtain a network structure. https://ppdata.politicadedrogas.org/ Trends were produced by solving a set of differential equations., Datasets are in a CSV format. Code is available for RStudio or R.
11,0 (Percent) in 2011. Accidental or violent deaths are those due to environmental events and circumstances, such as injury, poisoning and other adverse effects. They are classified as accidents, homicides and suicides.
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Mexico MX: Legislation Exists on Domestic Violence: 1=Yes; 0=No data was reported at 1.000 NA in 2018. This stayed constant from the previous number of 1.000 NA for 2017. Mexico MX: Legislation Exists on Domestic Violence: 1=Yes; 0=No data is updated yearly, averaging 1.000 NA from Dec 2009 (Median) to 2018, with 10 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1.000 NA in 2018 and a record low of 1.000 NA in 2018. Mexico MX: Legislation Exists on Domestic Violence: 1=Yes; 0=No data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Mexico – Table MX.World Bank.WDI: Policy and Institutions. Legislation exists on domestic violence is whether there is legislation addressing domestic violence: violence between spouses, within the family or members of the same household, or in interpersonal relationships, including intimate partner violence that is subject to criminal sanctions or provides for protection orders for domestic violence, or the legislation addresses “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” or “harassment” that clearly affects physical or mental health, and it is implied that such behavior is considered domestic violence.; ; World Bank: Women, Business and the Law.; ;
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Open crime incidence data in Mexico.
Given the complexity of looking for information on some topics in Mexico that are not found in INEGI, I share the following dataset. The dataset was extracted from Secretariado Ejecutivo del Sistema Nacional de Seguridad Pública.
It depends but grouping all the columns: Year, state id, State, Town id, Town, Affected legal asset, Type of crime, Subtype of crime, Modality, January - December occurrences
If you need a single csv with all the data, you can download the complete database from: https://www.gob.mx/sesnsp/acciones-y-programas/datos-abiertos-de-incidencia-delictiva
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Mexico MX: Intentional Homicides: Female: per 100,000 Female data was reported at 4.407 Ratio in 2016. This records an increase from the previous number of 3.785 Ratio for 2015. Mexico MX: Intentional Homicides: Female: per 100,000 Female data is updated yearly, averaging 2.510 Ratio from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2016, with 17 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 4.586 Ratio in 2012 and a record low of 1.951 Ratio in 2007. Mexico MX: 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 Mexico – Table MX.World Bank.WDI: 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.; ;
This data asset contains the data from the survey carried out in Mexico as part of the Juntos para la Prevención de la Violencia Performance Evaluation conducted by the Center on Conflict and Development at Texas A&M University. We surveyed a population that is representative at the urban national level for ages 16 to 29 (n = 1,539). Our sampling design ensures that our sample is not only representative across common sociodemographic categories (e.g., education and income), but also by level of violence. To do so, we consider three variables that capture levels of violence at the municipal level: homicide rate, reported nonhomicidal crime, and perceived level of violence. Homicide rates are considered more accurate official statistics compared to nonhomicidal crimes, as they are often reported more often by the general population and are typically recorded more accurately because they are definitionally specific and typically go through the health system (UNODC 2019). However, this measure does not capture the full reality of insecurity. For this reason, we also include measures generated from Mexico’s National Survey of Urban Public Security (ENSU) to capture nonhomicidal violence and insecurity at the municipal level. Given that the ENSU data are not representative at the municipal level, using this survey and the 2015 intercensus, we generate municipal estimates using multilevel regression and poststratification (MRP). These measures capture the preponderance of nonhomicidal crime (MRP victimization) and perceived community insecurity (MRP insecurity) at the municipal level. With these estimates and homicide rates, we then order municipalities based on level of insecurity and sample via seriation. Our sampling strategy generated a survey sample that is reflective of the ENSU survey in terms of violence level across all three categories. The dataset includes 102 columns and 1,539 rows (corresponding to each respondent). The survey aims to gather information about respondents’ sociodemographic characteristics, victimization, in/security perceptions, protective factors against delinquency, and exposure to and perceptions about gang participation. It also has embedded an original vignette experiment. Experimental vignette studies in survey research use short descriptions of hypothetical scenarios (vignettes) that are usually presented to respondents within surveys in order to elicit how their judgments about such scenarios affect outcomes of interest, often revealing their perceptions, values, or social norms. In our vignette, we randomize the perpetrator’s socioeconomic status and upbringing, the type of criminal involvement (leader vs. gang member), the severity of the crime, and the type of victim to understand how youth attribute blame.
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Mexico MX: Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism: Estimate data was reported at -0.647 NA in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of -0.629 NA for 2016. Mexico MX: Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism: Estimate data is updated yearly, averaging -0.662 NA from Dec 1996 (Median) to 2017, with 19 observations. The data reached an all-time high of -0.056 NA in 2002 and a record low of -0.923 NA in 1996. Mexico MX: Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism: Estimate data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Mexico – Table MX.World Bank.WGI: Country Governance Indicators. Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism measures perceptions of the likelihood of political instability and/or politically-motivated violence, including terrorism. Estimate gives the country's score on the aggregate indicator, in units of a standard normal distribution, i.e. ranging from approximately -2.5 to 2.5.
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This article explains a surprising wave of lethal attacks by drug cartels against hundreds of local elected officials and party candidates in Mexico, 2007-2012. These attacks are puzzling because criminal organizations prefer the secrecy of bribery over the publicity of political murder. Scholars suggest that war drives armed actors to attack state authorities in search of protection or rents. Using original data of high-profile attacks in Mexico, we show that war need arguments underexplain violence. Focusing on political opportunities, we suggest that cartels use attacks to establish criminal governance regimes and conquer local governments, populations, and territories. We present quantitative and qualitative evidence showing that cartels took advantage of Mexico's political polarization and targeted subnational authorities who were unprotected by their federal partisan rivals. Cartels intensified attacks during subnational election cycles to capture incoming governments and targeted geographically adjacent municipalities to establish controls over large territories. Our findings reveal how cartels take cues from the political environment to develop their own de facto political domains through high-profile violence. These results question the widely shared assumption that organized criminal groups are apolitical actors.
In 2023, Mexico State was the Mexican federal entity with the highest number of homicides, including cases of murder and manslaughter. A total of ***** people were killed in Guanajuato in that year, the second highest figure. Mexico is one of the Latin American countries with the highest murder rates.
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Data, metadata, and code for reproducibility and replicability purposes for the paper "Determinants of Emotional Intimate Partner Violence against Women and Girls with Children in Mexican Households: An Ecological Framework"
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.