These are the safest states in Mexico

The National Survey of Victimization and Perception of Public Safety of Inegi revealed which are the safest states in Mexico.

These are the safest states in Mexico
National Guard "Justice and Peace". Image: National Guard

The National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) presented the National Survey of Victimization and Perception of Public Safety (Envipe), which revealed which states in Mexico have a higher perception of safety.  According to the institute's figures, it is estimated that 21.2 million people over the age of 18 were victims of some type of crime during 2020, which means that for every 100,000 inhabitants 23,520 were victims.

The crimes recorded by Envipe are total and partial vehicle theft, home burglary, robbery or assault in the street or public transportation, fraud, extortion, verbal threats, injuries, kidnapping, and sexual crimes. The crime of robbery in the street or public transport presented a reduction in its frequency, going from 27 percent of the total crimes that occurred during 2019 to 22.5 percent in 2020.

The crime incidence in personal crimes, that is, those that affect the person directly is higher in men for most crimes, except for sexual crimes where women are more vulnerable. For every 100,000 women, 3,140 are victims of sexual crimes in Mexico. In 2020, the total cost as a result of insecurity and crime in households represented an amount of 277.6 billion pesos or 1.85 percent of GDP.

This is equivalent to an average of 7,155 pesos per person affected by insecurity and crime. The black figure, i.e. the level of unreported or reported crimes that did not result in an investigation file, was 93.3 percent at the national level during 2020, since 33 percent of victims consider reporting a crime as a waste of time and 14 percent distrust the authorities.

The safest states in Mexico

The organization indicated that the perception of insecurity of the population aged 18 and over in the states in March and April 2021 stood at 75.6 percent. 65.5 percent of the population felt unsafe in their municipality or territorial demarcation, while 41.9 percent felt this way in their neighborhood or locality.

Yucatan was the state with the highest perception of security; on the contrary, Mexico City and Mexico City were the states where the population perceives greater insecurity, there is a higher incidence of crime, and crimes with violence and weapons are more recurrent.

The purpose of the National Guard is to carry out the public security function of the Federation and, if necessary, to temporarily collaborate in the public security tasks that correspond to the states or municipalities.