Crime and Violence in Brazil

9 per 100,000 inhabitants. These numbers might seem miniscule until translated with the total population. Using these numbers with the current population in Brazil, assuming the homicide rate is still similar to 25.2, about 51,080 inhabitants would be victims of homicide annually. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the total number of homicides in the America's, North and South, in 2012 were 157,000 (). This translates to Brazil accounting for over 30% of homicides in the America's alone. These statistics of crimes in Brazil, specifically homicidal crimes, have fluctuated throughout recent years. However, they still are at stabilizing high levels, which keeps Brazil as one of the top South American countries with a high homicide rate.
             Although Brazil is the world's seventh largest economy, it continually has one of the highest inequality rates in the world. According to the CIA, Brazil's GINI index, which measures "measures the degree of inequality in the distribution of family income in a country," was 51.9 in 2012, the 16th highest of 141 countries recorded. In 2009, the richest fifth of Brazil received 58.6% of the nation's income, while the poorest fifth received just under 3%. Though most associate the majority of crime rates with the poorer areas in Brazil, the correlation between inequality and crime is more accurate. Actually, it is the middle-income regions and urban areas of Latin America that harbor most of the crime rates, which also happens to have most extreme rates of income inequality. In these urban areas especially, due to their inequality, poor inhabitants are placed in close proximity to those with high-incomes. This clearly explains the correlation between robbery and theft crimes and income inequality. Studies by the UNODC show that per 100,000 population, the robbery and thefts rates were 552.78 and 630.86 in 2011. The majority of victims of robbery and theft crimes tend to be those with higher income levels because of the unequal distribution of income and the close proximity of inhabitants with different household income levels in urban areas.