Chiapas has edged out Yucatán to become Mexico’s safest state, according to Semáforo Delictivo, a citizens’ security watchdog.

The organization’s ranking system is based on an analysis of each state’s crime rates compared to national and historic averages and assigns them a color — green, yellow or red. Green signifies that rates are within the objectives or that security strategies are functioning while red means rates are worse than the average and strategies are not functioning. Yellow is somewhere in between the two.

Chiapas was one of three states — the others were Yucatán and Durango — that did not have any red indicators in the latest quarterly ranking.

The report gave the state green indicators in homicide, kidnapping, extortion, low-scale drug trafficking, vehicle theft, home and business robbery, assault and femicide.

It was the first time Chiapas has been ranked as Mexico’s safest state, beating out Yucatán.

For three high-impact crimes — vehicle theft and home and business robbery — Chiapas ranked substantially below the national average.

Chiapas’ homicide rate was 2.6 per 100,000 inhabitants, well below the national average of 5.3. Colima, on the other hand, was the worst at 21.3 per 100,000.

Semáforo Delictivo indicators showed that Guerrero, Colima, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Zacatecas and Veracruz were the states with the highest incidence of high-impact crimes.

The data coincides with other recent reports by non-governmental and official agencies including Observatorio Nacional Ciudadano, INEGI, the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System and the Institute for Economy and Peace.

Source: El Heraldo de Chiapas (sp), La Razón (sp)