Data from the Mexican National Public Security System (SNSP) indicate that Mexico’s homicide rate has declined by 23% from 37 (homicides per 100,000 population) in 1997 to 29 in 2009. It declined in 20 of Mexico’s 32 states.
The states with the homicide rates below 20 and their change since 1997 are shown below. All of the states listed except two experienced impressive declines since 1997. The two exceptions, Yucatán and Nuevo León, had the lowest homicide rates in the country in 1997. The homicide rates in the majority of these states even declined from 2007 to 2009 when the national homicide rate increased by 20%.
State Homicide rate per 100,000 population, 2009 Change, 1997-2009 (%)
Yucatán 11 +11
Campeche 13 –66
Baja California Sur 14 –59
Veracruz 15 –39
Zacatecas 16 –40
Nuevo León 16 +79
Hidalgo 16 –39
Federal District 16 –25
Querétaro 17 –57
Colima 18 –55
Jalisco 19 –65
México 19 –63
San Luis Potosí 19 –11
ALL MEXICO 29 –23
Most of these states are not heavily affected by Mexico’s drug war violence. While these states have low homicide rates for Mexico, they are not particularly low from an international perspective. They are about two times the rate in the USA, but about one quarter of those in Colombia.
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