Homicides in Mexico declined last year to the lowest level since 2016, according to preliminary 2023 data published by the national statistics agency INEGI.
There were 31,062 homicides in 2023, INEGI said Thursday, a 6.7% decline compared to the 33,287 recorded in 2022.
The 2022 tally was revised upward from a preliminary count of 32,223. Comparing the preliminary data for 2022 and 2023, the decline in murders last year was a more modest 3.6%.
INEGI data shows that homicide numbers fell for a third consecutive year in 2023 after reaching an all-time high of 36,773 in 2020.
Federal officials including President Andrés Manuel López Obrador frequently highlight that murders have trended down in recent years. They often blame the still high homicide numbers on the security situation they inherited from previous governments.
The current six-year term of government will go down as the most violent in history, with almost 194,000 homicides to date.
Homicide numbers in Mexico increased sharply after former president Felipe Calderón launched a militarized “war” on drug cartels shortly after he took office in 2006.
The government today continues to use the military for public security tasks, but López Obrador says he is committed to avoiding the use of force against criminals wherever possible.
His administration has poured resources into a so-called “hugs, not bullets” security strategy, in which the root causes of violence are ostensibly combated through employment and welfare programs.
Which states recorded the highest number of homicides in 2023?
Guanajuato ranked as the most violent state in 2023 in terms of total homicides with 3,746, according to INEGI’s preliminary data.
That number — while still very high — declined 13.5% compared to the 4,329 murders recorded in the state in 2022, according to final data. Compared to preliminary data for 2022, homicides fell 12% in Guanajuato last year.
Confrontations between organized crime groups, including the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, are the main cause of violence in the Bajío region state. The majority of murders occur in a relatively small number of notoriously violent municipalities, including Salvatierra, Celaya and Salamanca.
INEGI data shows that Guanajuato has recorded the highest number of homicides among Mexico’s 32 federal entities every year since 2018. Murders peaked in 2020 at 5,370.
In 2023, a total of 12 states recorded more than 1,000 homicides, preliminary data shows.
They were:
- Guanajuato: 4,329 homicides
- México state: 2,849
- Baja California: 2,642
- Chihuahua: 2,396
- Michoacán: 1,865
- Guerrero: 1,720
- Jalisco: 1,550
- Morelos: 1,527
- Sonora: 1,453
- Nuevo León: 1,355
- Zacatecas: 1,073
- Puebla: 1,001
Mexico City ranked as the 18th most violent entity in 2023 with 658 homicides.
Colima again ranks first for per capita homicides
With 883 murders last year, the small Pacific coast state of Colima ranked 13th for total homicides, but first when those killings were considered on a per capita basis.
There were 117 homicides per 100,000 residents in Colima last year, a 1.7% increase compared to the 115 in 2022, according to final data.
The state’s per capita homicide rate in 2023 was almost five times higher than the national rate of 24 murders per 100,000 people.
Mexico’s largest seaport, the Manzanillo port, is located in Colima. Criminal control of the port — a major entry point for fentanyl precursor chemicals from China — is highly coveted by crime groups, as are trafficking routes that run north and northeast from the Pacific coast state.
INEGI data shows that Colima — which had a population of just over 753,000 in 2023 — has been Mexico’s most violent state since 2016, based on per capita homicides.
Including Colima, six states recorded more than 50 homicides per 100,000 residents in 2023. They were:
- Colima: 117
- Morelos: 77
- Baja California: 69
- Zacatecas: 65
- Chihuahua: 62
- Guanajuato: 59
Which states were the least violent in 2023?
Baja California Sur — home to popular tourism destinations such as Los Cabos and La Paz — recorded the lowest number of homicides last year with just 47, according to INEGI’s preliminary data.
Compared to final data for 2017 — the last full year of Enrique Peña Nieto’s presidency — murders declined 93.7% in the state last year.
Including Baja California Sur, eight states recorded fewer than 200 homicides last year. They were:
- Baja California Sur: 47
- Yucatán: 52
- Durango: 89
- Aguascalientes: 114
- Campeche: 115
- Coahuila: 129
- Nayarit: 144
- Tlaxcala: 135
On a per capita basis, Yucatán was the least violent state with just 2 homicides per 100,000 residents last year.
Nine states had per capita murder rates below 10 per 100,000 people. They were:
- Yucatán: 2
- Coahuila: 4
- Baja California Sur: 5
- Durango: 5
- Mexico City: 7
- Aguascalientes: 8
- Veracruz: 8
- Querétaro: 9
- Tlaxcala:9
Almost 9 in 10 homicide victims in 2023 were men
INEGI’s preliminary data shows that 27,221 of the 31,062 homicide victims were men, while 3,578 were women.
In percentage terms, 87.6% of the victims were men, while 11.5% were women. The sex of 263 victims, or 0.9% of the total, was not specified.
Most murders were committed with firearms
INEGI’s data shows that 21,739 of the 31,062 homicides last year were perpetrated with firearms. In other words, seven in 10 homicides were committed with guns. That figure increased slightly compared to 2022.
Most firearms used to commit high-impact crimes in Mexico are smuggled into the country from the United States. There is only one store in the entire country where guns can be purchased legally — an army-run establishment in the Mexico City metropolitan area.
Just over 11% of homicides last year were the result of “aggression by unspecified means,” INEGI said, while about 9.5% of murders were committed with “sharp objects” such as knives.
Accounting for 7% of all murders last year, the fourth most common way in which homicides were committed in Mexico in 2023 was via “hanging, strangulation and suffocation,” INEGI said.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
