Region

Key Data

• The homicide rate per one hundred thousand population in Central America and the Dominican Republic (17.3) is slightly higher than the rate in Latin America (16.8).
• The downward trend in homicides since 2015 resumed in 2023 with a rate of 17.3 per one hundred thousand population, a 1.5 decrease compared to 2022. Homicides of men decreased 9.2% but homicides of women increased 3.2%.
• The month of June registered (688) the highest number of homicides in 2023.
• Each year, institutions typify fewer incidents as femicides. Between 2017 and 2022, typification of this type of crime fell 16%.
• There was a rise in "other forms" of violence against women and girls. In 2022, 49 complaints were filed daily. Eight in ten reports involve women and girls.
• In 2022, Guatemala registered a total 500 cases of human trafficking, 54.2% involved women and girls.
• Young people continue to be the primary victims of homicidal violence in the region in 2022. 7 in 10 homicide victims were people between 18 and 40 years of age.
• Firearms were involved in 4 in 5 homicides in 2022.
• In two out of every three (66%) territories (department, province or district), records show a decrease in homicides in 2023 compared to 2022.

Source: Prepared by UNDP InfoSegura with information from Belize Police Department (provided by the BCO); Costa Rica, OIJ; El Salvador, PNC; Guatemala, PNC (Statistics Section, INE validation pending); Honduras, Working Group on Violent Deaths: National Police, Public Ministry/Directorate of Forensic Medicine. National Registry of Persons. Citizen Coexistence and Security Observatories. National Statistics Institute. IUDPAS/UNAH. Technical Inter-Institutional Coordination Unit (UTECI)/Sub-Secretary for Inter-Institutional Affairs and the Dominican Republic, Centre for Analysis of Citizen Security Data (CADSECI) and the National Police.