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Brazil's homicide rate in 2024

Brazil recorded 44,127 intentional violent deaths in 2024 — about 20.8 per 100,000, a -5.4% drop from 2023 and the lowest rate since 2012.

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The latest numbers

In 2024, Brazil registered 44,127 intentional violent deaths (mortes violentas intencionais), per the Brazilian Public Security Forum (FBSP) — about 20.8 per 100,000 people and a -5.4% decline from the 46,441 recorded in 2023. It is the lowest rate since 2012.

A second official source, the Atlas da Violência, counts homicides from Ministry of Health death certificates rather than police records. For 2024 it reported 42,590 homicides — a rate of 20.1 per 100,000. The two numbers are close but not identical; the difference is explained below.

Why are homicides falling?

Brazil's homicide rate peaked at 31.2 per 100,000 in 2017 (64,079 violent deaths) and has fallen 33% since, to 20.8 in 2024. It is the lowest rate since 2012.

The decline ran five straight years into 2025, when the Monitor da Violência counted 34,086 homicides, the lowest on its record. The puzzle is what drove it. This was not a Bukele-style crackdown. The leading explanation among researchers is a "pax mafiosa": the São Paulo-born PCC consolidated control over much of the drug trade, and in 2024 it reached a truce with its main rival, Comando Vermelho. Fewer territorial wars mean fewer killings.

That makes the good news uncomfortable, and it comes with three caveats. Credit is contested, since the fall tracks criminal dynamics more closely than any government policy. Crime also moved rather than vanished, shifting toward cyber fraud, online scams, and extortion, which hurt people without killing them. And Brazil has logged record disappearances since 2015, so some of the decline may be murders that were never counted (the same undercount problem behind the two official numbers below).

Chart: FBSP, Anuário Brasileiro de Segurança Pública 2025 (mortes violentas intencionais per 100,000, 2012–2024). The 2025 figure is from G1's Monitor da Violência, a narrower homicide count tracked separately, so it is noted here but not plotted on the FBSP series.

Homicides by state, adjusted for population

Brazil's 27 federative units ranked by their 2024 violent-death rate per 100,000 — the population-adjusted view. Amapá, Bahia, and Ceará are the deadliest by rate, while São Paulo, despite the second-largest raw count, sits near the bottom because its huge population dilutes the rate. Bar length and color both track the rate; the count and year-over-year change are shown alongside. Sort by rate, raw count, or year-over-year change.

Sort by:
  1. 1 Amapá 45.1 /100k
  2. 2 Bahia 40.6 /100k
  3. 3 Ceará 37.5 /100k
  4. 4 Pernambuco 36.2 /100k
  5. 5 Alagoas 35.4 /100k
  6. 6 Maranhão 30.4 /100k
  7. 7 Mato Grosso 29.8 /100k
  8. 8 Pará 29.5 /100k
  9. 9 Amazonas 27.4 /100k
  10. 10 Rondônia 26.1 /100k
  11. 11 Paraíba 25.6 /100k
  12. 12 Rio Grande do Norte 24.2 /100k
  13. 13 Espírito Santo 23.9 /100k
  14. 14 Sergipe 22.8 /100k
  15. 15 Rio de Janeiro 22.1 /100k
  16. 16 Acre 20.3 /100k
  17. 17 Piauí 20.3 /100k
  18. 18 Tocantins 19.8 /100k
  19. 19 Goiás 18.8 /100k
  20. 20 Mato Grosso do Sul 18.7 /100k
  21. 21 Roraima 18.6 /100k
  22. 22 Paraná 18.4 /100k
  23. 23 Minas Gerais 15.1 /100k
  24. 24 Rio Grande do Sul 15 /100k
  25. 25 Federal District 8.9 /100k
  26. 26 Santa Catarina 8.5 /100k
  27. 27 São Paulo 8.2 /100k

Source: FBSP, Anuário Brasileiro de Segurança Pública 2025 (data year 2024). Rate per 100,000 uses IBGE population projections. Each row shows the 2024 rate, the 2024 count of violent deaths, and the year-over-year change in the rate.

Why Brazil has two official homicide numbers

Brazil publishes two official homicide counts, and they don't quite match — because two systems measure it differently.

The FBSP — the Brazilian Public Security Forum — compiles mortes violentas intencionais (mvi) from state public-security secretariats (police records). Its yearbook is released annually and counted 44,127 violent deaths in 2024.

The Atlas da Violência — produced by IPEA together with the FBSP — instead builds its count from death certificates (Ministry of Health mortality system), the Ministry of Health mortality system. For 2024 it counted 42,590 homicides. The gap is about 1,537 deaths (3.6%), with the police figure higher. The Atlas warns that the true total is likely higher than either, citing persistent underreporting of roughly 5,000 deaths a year.

Source (2024) Deaths Rate /100k Basis
FBSP (Anuário) 44,127 20.8 Police records
Atlas da Violência 42,590 20.1 Death certificates (SIM/DATASUS)

FBSP counts are police-record based (mortes violentas intencionais); Atlas counts are death-certificate based (SIM/DATASUS). Unlike Mexico — where the death-certificate count runs higher — in Brazil the police compilation is the larger of the two, and both are argued to undercount.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Brazil's homicide rate in 2024?

Brazil recorded 44,127 intentional violent deaths (mortes violentas intencionais) in 2024 according to the Brazilian Public Security Forum (FBSP), a rate of about 20.8 per 100,000 people and a 5.4% drop from 2023. It is the lowest rate since 2012. A separate official source, the Atlas da Violência (based on Ministry of Health death certificates), counted 42,590 homicides for the same year, a rate of 20.1 per 100,000.

Why does Brazil report two different homicide numbers?

Brazil has two official homicide counts because two systems measure it differently. The FBSP's annual yearbook compiles records from state public-security secretariats (police data) and reported 44,127 violent deaths in 2024. The Atlas da Violência, produced by IPEA and the FBSP, uses the Ministry of Health's mortality system (SIM/DATASUS), built from death certificates, and counted 42,590. The gap is about 1,537 deaths (3.6%), with the police count higher. The Atlas also warns that the true number is likely higher than either figure, citing roughly 5,000 underreported homicides per year.

Why are homicides falling in Brazil?

Brazil's homicide rate peaked at 31.2 per 100,000 in 2017 and has fallen about a third since, to 20.8 in 2024, the lowest since 2012, with the decline continuing into 2025. The leading explanation is not a government crackdown but a "pax mafiosa": the São Paulo-born PCC faction consolidated control of the drug trade and reached a 2024 truce with its rival Comando Vermelho, reducing the territorial wars that drive killings. The trend comes with caveats. Credit is contested, crime has shifted toward cyber fraud and extortion, and record disappearances since 2015 mean part of the decline may be uncounted murders.

Which Brazilian state has the highest homicide rate?

By rate per 100,000, Amapá was highest in 2024 at about 45.1, followed by Bahia (40.6) and Ceará (37.5). By raw count, Bahia led with 6,036 violent deaths, ahead of Rio de Janeiro (3,809) and São Paulo (3,751). São Paulo, despite the second-largest count, has one of the lowest rates (8.2) because of its very large population.

How many homicides were there in Brazil in 2024?

The FBSP recorded 44,127 intentional violent deaths in 2024 — homicides, robbery-killings, fatal assaults, and deaths from police intervention — down 5.4% from 46,441 in 2023. The Atlas da Violência's death-certificate count for the same year was 42,590.

Is violence in Brazil going up or down?

Down, overall. National violent deaths fell from 46,441 in 2023 to 44,127 in 2024 (FBSP), the lowest rate since 2012. Most states declined, but a few rose — Maranhão (+12.1%), Ceará (+10.9%), São Paulo (+7.5%), and Minas Gerais (+5.0%) all saw increases in their rate.

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