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 2023 in Central America, the highest economic cost of violence was for Guatemala with around 14.7 billion USD, followed by Panama with approximately 13.02 billion USD.

Using the ACLED database, it's possible to search for various types of events by time and location, including at the country, department, and municipal levels. The types of events recorded include Early Warning alerts, Riots, Armed Clashes between politically organized groups, Explosions/Remote Violence, Protests that are public, and Violence Against Civilians. These categories help track and analyze the dynamics of conflict and political activity across different regions.

For more information contact GIS4Tech: info@gis4tech.com. You can also visit the PREDISAN platform https://predisan.gis4tech.com/ca4 for detailed, accurate information.

In 2023 in Central America, the highest cost of violence per capita in the countries displayed was Panama with ***** U.S. dollars. Followed by Costa Rica with approximately ***** USD.

Different types of violent events reported by ACLED are recorded of the countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua at the municipal level. Each column defines a threat category for the municipality: No Risk, Low Threat, Moderate Threat, and Severe Threat. The final column shows the overall summary of global threats.

This calculation reflects how severe a specific type of event is in relation to the population size. It is calculated by dividing the number of events of a specific type by the population percentage, then multiplying the result by 100,000.

For more information contact GIS4Tech: info@gis4tech.com. You can also visit the PREDISAN platform https://predisan.gis4tech.com/ca4 for detailed, accurate information.

In 2023, the countries in Central America with the highest cost of violence as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was Honduras with 14 percent. Followed by El Salvador and Guatemala with 10 and 9 percent respectively.

Several countries located in Central America and the Caribbean registered some of the highest homicide rates in the Latin American region in 2023. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ranked first, with around 51.32 homicides committed per 100,000 inhabitants. Jamaica came in second with 49.44 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 is 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, at 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.

This horizontal bar chart displays internally displaced persons, by conflict and violence (people) by region using the aggregation sum in Central America. The data is about countries.

The article examines the relationship between victimization, fear of crime, and democratic legitimacy in Latin America, considering both the causal mechanisms and contextual effects involved in this process. Fear of crime and victimization are regarded as distinct (yet interconnected) phenomena, each potentially operating through different causal mechanisms. Democratic legitimacy is understood from a multidimensional perspective. The hypotheses consider country-level contextual factors and are tested using multilevel analysis, based on data from the 2016 and 2018 Americas Barometer. The findings underscore the detrimental impacts of victimization and fear of crime on democratic legitimacy in Latin America, with a particular emphasis on the intensified negative effect of victimization in countries with high homicide rates.

This dataset is the main survey created for the publication "Past, Present, and Future of Crime and Violence Observations in Latin America and the Caribbean" (Related Publication Only Available in Spanish). This study examines the creation and evolution of crime and violence observatories in Latin America and the Caribbean, starting from the early 1990s. It explores their historical and conceptual development, maps out 66 observatories across 18 countries, and provides recommendations for their improved design, monitoring, and evaluation. The goal is to enhance their effectiveness in supporting public policies aimed at reducing crime and violence in the region.​

Crime is a major problem in Latin America and the Caribbean. With 9 percent of the world's population, the region accounts for 33 percent of global homicides. This dataset makes extensive new survey data available to help identify what anti-crime policies citizens in the region demand from their governments, as well as who is demanding what and why. This dataset accompanies a recent report on Combating Crime in Latin America and the Caribbean.

This dataset provides an aggregated view of media content from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, categorized by topics such as aid requests, migration, politics, natural risks, public services, violence, gender violence and includes counts of articles or reports for each category. The information is sourced using advanced scraping techniques from various regional and international media outlets. Each piece of content is then classified using natural language processing and artificial intelligence to ensure accurate categorization. This dataset is invaluable for understanding media trends, the frequency of reporting on specific issues, and the comparative focus across these Central American countries.

For more information contact GIS4Tech: info@gis4tech.com. You can also visit the PREDISAN platform https://predisan.gis4tech.com/ca4 for detailed, accurate information

This horizontal bar chart displays internally displaced persons, by conflict and violence (people) by currency using the aggregation sum in Central America. The data is about countries.

Abstract

Multiple causes for displacement, all too often underpinned by violence and persecution, has led to over 800,000 Central Americans fleeing their homes, beginning in 2013. Year after year, there has been an increase in individuals fleeing. This was marked initially by especially large numbers of unaccompanied children, then joined in around 2018 with dramatic increases in families units fleeing Central America. Families are forced to flee together as violent threats and persecution by criminal groups in communities extend beyond individuals to entire family units.

Given these shifting dynamics in human mobility in these countries, UNHCR and UNICEF, through the Interdisciplinary Development Consultants, CID Gallup, decided to undertake this study with the aim of understanding and giving visibility to the forced displacement of families that flee northern Central America. In addition, the study also seeks to shed light on the current trends, protection risks and factors associated to the forced displacement and migration of unaccompanied and separated children.

For this purpose, Gallup conducted 3,104 surveys, complemented by focus group sessions segmented according to the geography of displacement in the region: country of origin, of transit and of asylum. Additionally, interviews were undertaken with families who were part of large mixed movement "caravans" that left Honduras at the beginning of 2020.

Analysis unit

Household

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

A significant sample was taken of each profile interviewed for a total of 3,104 surveys conducted in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico. The content of each survey was focused on the following profiles:

Families and children and adolescents at risk of displacement in countries of origin: a total of 789 surveys were carried out with families identified from a non-probabilistic sampling. The surveys were taken in areas with the highest criminality and violence rates in countries of origin (El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala), which were also areas with a prior history of forced displacement identified through previous studies. The survey questions focused on risks faced by families in their places of origin, including those that would compel them to flee, particularly those related to violence and poverty.

Families and children and adolescents in transit: a total of 836 surveys were carried out with families identified from a non-probabilistic sampling. The surveys were taken at locations where persons in transit were typically found in Guatemala and Mexico, such as Casas de Migrantes. For the quantitative component, data of unaccompanied children and adolescents was gatheredin Casa Nuestras Raices in Guatemala City and Quetzaltenango. This segment of the population was surveyed on the risks they faced during transit as well as the causes of displacement from their countries of origin.

Families and children and adolescents in country of destination: through non-probabilistic sampling methods, 453 people were surveyed, the majority of whom were recognized as refugees or asylum seekers in Mexico. Several interviews were facilitated by the UNHCR Office in Mexico in areas with this population profile: Casa del Migrante Monsenor-Oluta Veracruz, Scalabrinianas Mision con Migrantes y Refugiados, State DIF, Municipal DIF, among others. The survey questions for this population focused on the asylum procedure and their living conditions in the country.

Deported families and children and adolescents: non-probability cluster sampling. Interviews were conducted with 1,026 families that had been detained and deported during the 12 months prior to the survey. Locations included the Guatemalan Air Force base, outside of the Center for the Comprehensive Assistance to Migrants (CAIM for its acronym in Spanish) and outside of the following locations in Honduras: Center for the Assistance of Migrant Children and Families in Belen, and Center for the Assistance to the Returned Migrant (CAMR) and CAMR-OMOA.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The questionnaire contains the following sections: household characteristics, individual characteristics, details on deportation, risks, transit, settled households.

In late March of 2020, many governments in Latin America imposed lockdowns in order to avoid the further spread of the virus SARS-CoV-2. As a result of the isolation, a steep rise of gender violence and family abuse cases was identified in several countries in the region. For instance, Mexico's domestic violence reports increased 25 percent in March 2020, in comparison to the same month of the previous year. In Argentina, a hotline for sexual violence victims received more than two thirds more phone calls in April 2020, compared to a year earlier. Argentina is one of the Latin American countries with the highest number of femicide victims.

In 2024, the Mexican city of Colima was the second most deadly city in the world, with a murder rate of ****** per 100,000 inhabitants. * out of the top 10 cities with over ******* habitants and the highest homicide rates were located in Mexico.

Honduras was the Latin American country with the highest femicide rate as of 2023. In that year, it was estimated that around seven women were murdered on account of their gender per 100,000 female population in this Central American country. Chile recorded one of the lowest femicide rates, at 0.4 victims every 100,000 women. In that same year, Brazil registered the largest number of femicide cases in the region.

This dataset is about books. It has 1 row and is filtered where the book is A history of violence : living and dying in Central America. It features 7 columns including author, publication date, language, and book publisher.

Occurrence of violent crimes (2019-2020)

This collection consists of interview data on refugees/displacement and organised crime in Latin America. This project uses multi-disciplinary methodology to investigate and influence the ways in which Latin American States use transnational structures and interventions to address new security and justice challenges resulting from forced migration flows. The recent trend of increasing arrivals of 'extra-continental' migrants and refugees, many from conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, raise substantive challenges of security and justice for Latin American societies. At the same time, particularly in Central America, new patterns of gang- and drug-related generalised violence are producing extensive forced displacement. As States in the region seek to balance societal fears about terrorism and criminality against their international obligations to protect refugees, they look to develop new forms of transnational cooperation on asylum and migration. This international cooperation builds on existing regional initiatives. However, no recent or comprehensive studies of this topic exist. This research analyses these regional responses to forced migration in Latin America. Among the far-reaching questions are: (1) What are the implications for security and justice of these new dynamics? (2) How do Latin American States respond to such challenges, and how can their responses be strengthened in future? (3) What are the implications for States' allocation of international responsibility for flows of refugees? Semi-structured and unstructured interviews.