RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil has recorded a 22 percent drop in violent deaths in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2018. The Northeast region accounts for the largest decrease.
This is reflected in the national homicide index developed by the G1 news site, based on official data from the 26 states and the Federal District.
There were 21,289 murders in six months, against 27,371 in the same period last year, representing 6,000 fewer deaths.
The Northeast accounts for over half of this reduction (3,244 fewer deaths), representing 53 percent of the total in the country.
The downward trend in homicides was anticipated by the G1 in the balance of the first two months of the year, showing a reduction of 25 percent in relation to the same period last year, and in the violent deaths balance in 2018, which recorded the largest downturn in the past 11 years of the Brazilian Public Safety Forum historical series, representing 13 percent of the total.
However, the murder rate remains high. The figures show that there is a violent death every 12 minutes in Brazil – 118 per day on average.