Number of homicides in Brazil drops 7% in 2021, lowest in historical series -g1 Index

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – There were 41,100 violent deaths in Brazil last year – the lowest number since 2007, when the Brazilian Public Security Forum began collecting data. The National Homicide Index, compiled by g1, is based on official data from the 26 states and the Federal District.

The number of homicides in Brazil decreased by 7% in 2021 compared to the previous year. This is shown by the national homicide index compiled by g1, based on the official data of the 26 states and the Federal District.

A total of 41.1 thousand intentional violent deaths were registered in the country last year – 3 thousand fewer than in 2020, the lowest figure in the entire historical series of the Brazilian Public Security Forum, which has been collecting data since 2007.

The figure includes victims of the following crimes:

• Intentional homicides (including femicide)
• robberies resulting in death
• Assault resulting in death

The decrease in homicides in 2021 continues the downward trend that the Violence Monitor has recorded for the country since the 2018 tally. This trend was interrupted in 2020, a year that saw a peak of more than 5% amid the pandemic, but it was recorded again in 2021.

With the decrease, the number of deaths returns to the level of 2019, when 41.7 thousand deaths were recorded. There was the most significant decrease in the series in that year, 19%.

According to experts from the FBSP and NEV-USP, the lower number of deaths is due to several factors, including the professionalization of the Brazilian drug market, the greater control and influence of governments over criminals, the appeasement of conflicts between different groups, public security, and social policies, and the decrease in the number of young people in the population.

The survey is part of the Violence Monitor, a g1 partnership with the Center for Violence Studies at the University of São Paulo (NEV-USP) and the Brazilian Public Security Forum.

The data shows that

• In 2021, there were 41,069 homicides in Brazil, the lowest number in the entire historical series that began in 2007.
• Compared to 2020, there were 3,049 fewer deaths, a 7% decrease.
• Twenty-one states in the country recorded a decline in homicides this year
  the most significant reduction was registered in Acre, -38%.
• 6 states recorded an increase in violent deaths – 4 of which were in the North
  The North was the country’s only region where the number of homicides increased by 10%.
• The highest increase was registered in Amazonas with 54%.
• The lowest number in 14 years
• The number of murders in Brazil in 2021 is the lowest, considering the historical series of the Brazilian Public Security Forum, which began in 2007, and the Violence Monitor surveys since 2018.

With information from G1