Slight increase in Peru’s homicide rate

Just recently InSight Crime, a non-profit journalism and investigative organization specialized in monitoring and informing about organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean, published the latest “Homicide Round-Up” for the region.

In Peru the homicide rate slightly increased in 2016, the year for which the most recent data is available. INEI, Peru’s National Institute of Statistics, reported in July 2017 that 2,435 persons were assassinated in 2016. This number slightly raises the homicide rate from 7.2 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2015 to 7.7 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2016.

The cities in Peru with the highest homicide rates according to INEI include El Porvenir in La Libertad (19.5 per 100,000), Huaral in the Lima region (18.7 per 100,000), Tumbes (18.6 per 100,000), Independencia in Lima (17.8 per 100,000), Callao (17.2 per 100,000), Chimbote in Ancash (15.8 per 100,000), Puno and La Victoria in Lima (both 15.4 per 100,000).

On the other end Iquitos, Jaén, Tarapoto, Arequipa and Tacna had the lowest homicide rates in Peru in 2016 with less than 6 murders per 100,000 inhabitants.

78.7% of the victims of violent death were men, 21.3% women; and 66% of all homicide victims were between 18 and 44 years of age. 58.2% of the homicides were committed using a firearm, 15.4% a knife and 6.7% by strangulation, suffocation and drowning. The main alleged reason for homicides was revenge (24.5%) followed by common crime (20.4%), organized crime (16.7%) and contract killing (12.7%).

Even though Peru has the 5th lowest homicide rate in Latin America and the Caribbean, the country increasingly faces security threats from drug trafficking groups and other criminal networks.

Homicide rates in Latin America and the Caribbean 2017 (source: InSight Crime)

• Chile: 3.3 per 100,000
• Ecuador: 5.8 per 100,000
• Argentina: 6 per 100,000
• Nicaragua: 7 per 100,000
• Peru: 7.7 per 100,000
• Uruguay: 7.8 per 100,000
• Bolivia: 8.5 per 100,000
• Paraguay: 9.8 per 100,000
• Panama: 10.2 per 100,000
• Costa Rica: 12.1 per 100,000
• Dominican Republic: 14.9 per 100,000
• Mexico: 19.5 per 100,000
• Puerto Rico: 19.7 per 100,000
• Colombia: 24 per 100,000
• Guatemala: 26.1 per 100,000
• Brazil: 29.7 per 100,000
• Honduras: 42.8 per 100,000
• Jamaica: 55.7 per 100,000
• El Salvador: 60 per 100,000
• Venezuela: 89 per 100,000

Update

Find the homicide rates for 2018 in our article "Homicide rate in Peru and Latin America"