When it comes to homicides, Mexico is moving in the opposite direction from the global trend, according to research published by the Library of the House of Commons comparing the situation in Britain to other countries.
The document shows that homicide rates are generally falling around the world, with the exception of Mexico, where, on the contrary, there is an escalation of indicators.
The paper notes that until the Northern Ireland conflict, also known as “The Troubles,” which began in 1968 and reached its peak of violence in 1974, Britain experienced relatively low homicide rates, raising indicators to over 180 homicides per million people in Northern Ireland.
Indicators declined until they stabilized nationally at 11 homicides per million people in the 1980s and 1990s, rising to 17.9 homicides per million in 2002.
The homicide rate, described in the report as one person dying at the hands of another, rose from 1.6 homicides per 100,000 people in the UK in 2003 to 1.2 in 2018.
In the European Union (EU), most member countries show a similar trend as Great Britain over the same period. In Italy and the Netherlands, for example, the number of homicides per 100,000 inhabitants increased from 1.2 to 0.6, in France from 1.6 to 1.2, and in Germany from 1.1 to 0.9.
The Baltic partners recorded more drastic declines. In Estonia, the homicide rate fell from 10.7 per 100,000 population to 2.1; in Lithuania, from 10.1 to 4.6; and in Latvia, from 8.8 to 4.4.
Beyond community boundaries, the trend has been in countries such as South Africa, where the homicide rate rose from 42.4 per 100,000 people in 2003 to 36.4 in 2018, as well as in Turkey (from 4.3 to 2.6) and Russia (from 29.9 to 8.2).
Japan, already characterized by one of the lowest homicide rates in the world, continued to adjust downward over the study period, from 0.5 to 0.3 homicides per 100,000 people. Australia also improved its score from 1.5 to 0.9.
In Latin America, Brazil and Chile did not improve their scores; on the contrary, they recorded increases from 25.8 to 27.4 and from 3.2 to 4.4 per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively. However, the deterioration was not as great as in Mexico.
