Brazil: Macapá most violent capital; São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Cuiabá most peaceful
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Macapá has the highest rate of intentional violent deaths (MVI) among Brazilian capitals, according to the 16th edition of the Brazilian Public Security Yearbook, published Tuesday, June 28.
According to the document, last year, the capital of Amapá registered an average rate of 63.2 violent deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.
According to the yearbook, São João do Jaguaribe (Ceará) is the most violent city in the country, with an average rate of 224 violent deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.
The document points out that violence in Macapá increased by 31.2%, as the MVI was 48.2 in 2020, the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the general average of the capitals, the index decreased by 7.9% from 2020 to last year, according to the yearbook. Six of the 27 states recorded an increase in the index.
According to the Brazilian Public Security Forum, the intentional violent deaths category corresponds to the sum of victims of intentional homicides (including femicides), robberies, assaults resulting in death, and deaths resulting from on-duty and off-duty police operations (in some cases, they are included in intentional homicides).
The MVI category represents the total number of victims of violent deaths with defined intent in a given area. “The number of police officers killed is already included in the total number of intentional homicides and is presented here only to measure the phenomenon,” the document explains.
In the capital city of Amapá, of the items studied, only assault resulting in death has decreased in the two years, from 13 to 9 cases. The others have all increased. For robbery with death, the increase was 350%, from 4 to 18 cases.
The first 14 capitals with the highest rates of violence on the list are from states in the North and Northeast.
The most significant decrease in variation (-48%) was recorded in Rio Branco, the capital of Acre, which registered a decrease from 44.5 violent deaths per 1,000 inhabitants in 2020 to 23.1.
São Paulo was the capital with the lowest average in the index, with 7.7 violent deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in 2021, compared to 9.5 in the previous year and a change of -19.1%.
The yearbook points out that the city of São Paulo has the lowest rate of homicide victims among the capitals. In 2021, there were 4.9 deaths per group of 100,000 inhabitants in the city, compared to 5.8 in 2020 – a change of -15.4%.
At the other end of the ranking of homicides among capital cities, Manaus had the largest variation, with 58.7%, increasing from 29.6 per 100,000 inhabitants to 47.
In female homicides, Palmas is the capital with the highest rate, with 4.3 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. The lowest is Fortaleza, with 0.3.
Last year, Brazil’s average for all capitals was 17.5 per 100,000 inhabitants. Also, the general variation in homicides between capitals was -7.7%.
VIOLENT DEATHS IN CAPITAL CITIES
| State capitals and Federal District | Rate in 2020 | Rate in 2021 | Variation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Macapá (Amapá) | 48.2 | 63.2 | 31.2 |
| Salvador (Bahia) | 53.8 | 55.6 | 3.4 |
| Manaus (Amazonas) | 35.3 | 52.5 | 48.9 |
| Teresina (Piauí) | 33.8 | 37 | 9.5 |
| Boa Vista (Roraima) | 31.7 | 34.8 | 9.9 |
| Fortaleza (Ceará) | 48.5 | 34.3 | -29.3 |
| Recife (Pernambuco) | 33.4 | 33.1 | -1.2 |
| Porto Velho (Rondônia) | 29.9 | 32.4 | 8.6 |
| Maceió (Alagoas) | 36.1 | 29.8 | -17.5 |
| Aracaju (Sergipe) | 37 | 29.4 | -20.4 |
| João Pessoa (Paraíba) | 29.4 | 28.1 | -4.3 |
| Natal (Rio Grande do Norte) | 27.5 | 24 | -12.9 |
| Rio Branco (Acre) | 44.5 | 23.1 | -48 |
| São Luís (Maranhão) | 25.2 | 22.8 | -9.9 |
| Palmas (Tocantins) | 33.6 | 22.3 | -33.6 |
| Belém (Pará) | 25.6 | 22.3 | -12.9 |
| Vitória (Espírito Santo) | 21.6 | 21.1 | -2.2 |
| Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul) | 20.6 | 20 | -2.9 |
| Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro) | 21 | 19.2 | -8.5 |
| Curitiba (Paraná) | 17.8 | 16.7 | -6.5 |
| Goiânia (Goiás) | 24.9 | 16.6 | -33.3 |
| Campo Grande (Mato Grosso do Sul) | 20.1 | 15.3 | -23.9 |
| Brasília (Federal District) | 13.9 | 11.2 | -19.4 |
| Florianópolis (Santa Catarina) | 16.1 | 10.8 | -32.7 |
| Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais) | 13.6 | 10.8 | -20.7 |
| Cuiabá (Mato Grosso) | 17.5 | 10.6 | -39.4 |
| São Paulo (São Paulo) | 9.5 | 7.7 | -19.1 |
| Total | 23.6 | 21.7 | -7.9 |
With information from Folha
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