In 2024, Brazil’s homicide rate reached its lowest level since the Atlas of Violence began tracking the data in 2014. The study, conducted annually by the Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA) and the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety (FBSP), was released on Tuesday (May 26).

The country recorded 20.1 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, a rate 7.4 percent lower than in 2023. In absolute terms, there were 42,590 homicides in 2024, a decrease of 6.9 percent.

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The study was based on data from the Ministry of Health’s Mortality Information System (SIM) and Notifiable Diseases Information System (SINAN).

An analysis of the 2014–2024 period shows that the national homicide rate fell by 33.4 percent and the number of homicides decreased by 29.6 percent.

Daniel Cerqueira, coordinator of the Atlas of Violence and a planning and research specialist at IPEA, noted that Brazil is undergoing a major transition. While homicides are declining, the country is experiencing rising insecurity and persistent or even widening inequalities affecting minority populations.

Black people

In 2024 alone, 32,820 homicides of black people were recorded, accounting for 77 percent of all reported homicides. The rate was 27.3 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, equivalent to 89.9 black people murdered each day across the country.

From 2014 to 2024, 435,551 black people were killed in Brazil, compared to 132,156 non-black victims. Although homicide rates declined for both groups, the reductions were uneven, IPEA and FBSP reported. The rate fell by 38.9 percent among non-black people, compared with 21.7 percent among black people.

According to the Atlas of Violence, in terms of relative risk, a black person is 2.7 times more likely to be killed in a homicide than a non-black person.

The homicide rate for young people aged 15 to 29 in Brazil fell by 33.9 percent from 2014 to 2024. The data can be found in the Atlas da Violência 2026 (“2026 Atlas of Violence”), released Tuesday (May 26) by the Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA) and the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety (FBSP).

Over the course of this 10-year span, 301,825 young people within this age group were murdered in Brazil – which amounts to a daily 75 and accounts for 46.5 percent of all homicide victims in the country.

According to the atlas, 19,801 young people were murdered in 2024 – a rate of 42.2 homicides per 100 thousand youths.

The study also indicates that, when hidden homicides – probable murder cases that were not officially recorded – are taken into account, the estimated rate rises to 46.1 homicides per 100 thousand youths.

The lowest rate was found in São Paulo state (10.7 per 100 thousand youths), and the highest rates in Amapá (114.7) and Bahia (101.8).

Armed and male

Of the total 19,800 young people murdered in 2024, 18,545 were men – representing a homicide rate of 78 per 100 thousand male youths – nearly double the overall rate.

The study highlights that lethal violence is predominantly male and gun-related, resulting from structural factors and mostly concentrated in poor and marginalized regions.

Of the 54 young people killed daily in 2024, 51 were men. Among teenagers aged 15 to 19, firearms were used in 84.1 percent of homicides.

Daniel Cerqueira, coordinator for the atlas, points out that prior to an individual’s physical death, there is a cycle of violence in their life beginning at birth.

“It’s a wake-up that should get us to decide what we want to do with our children, adolescents, and young people, who are the future of the nation,” he warned.

The survey notes that some 14 children and adolescents aged 0 to 19 were murdered each day in Brazil in 2024.

Teenagers

Lethal violence was most prevalent among teenagers aged 15 to 19, despite a 55.8 percent plunge in the number of homicides, which fell from 10,348 in 2014 to 4,570 in 2024. The rate went from 60.3 homicides per 100 thousand teenagers to 30.5.

The atlas reveals a strong predominance of firearm use in homicides of 15- to 19-year-olds (84.1 percent of cases), suggesting dynamics typical of interpersonal violence in urban contexts.

Domestic violence

Domestic violence was the most common form of violence against children and adolescents from 2014 to 2024, with 676,282 cases reported, broken down as follows:

• 253,199 involving children aged 0 to 4;
• 279,542 involving children aged 5 to 14; and
• 143,541 involving adolescents aged 15 to 19.

Regarding younger children, the recommendation is to adopt strategies that protect children in the home environment, as well as to prevent abuse and identify risky situations before they occur.