At the presentation of the Mexico Peace Index 2025, the state of Zacatecas was recognized as the state with the greatest improvement in peace. Governor David Monreal Ávila indicated that the Institute for Economics and Peace has sought out Zacatecas to learn about the strategies implemented in the state.
According to the ranking, from occupying 31st place (second to last) nationally in 2022 and 2023, and from 2020 to 2022 being considered among the five most violent states in the country, Zacatecas made the greatest leap in security, moving to 18th place in the 2025 Peace Index (18th in 2024), with 2,921 points. This ranking highlighted a significant decrease in homicides in the state.
The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), which conducted the study, notes that for the second consecutive year, Zacatecas recorded the largest improvement in the homicide rate, with a 49.1 percent drop in its rate, giving it its best rating since 2015.
The study notes that 2024 was the first year since 2019 that Zacatecas did not record an extreme homicide rate. This crime gradually increased in the late 2010s until peaking in 2021, with 97.6 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. This increase was largely due “to Zacatecas becoming a key battleground in the bloody interstate conflict between cartels, with the state’s highways being particularly important for transporting drugs northward to the United States.”
After reaching its peak in 2021, “the number of homicides in Zacatecas gradually decreased in both 2022 and 2023; in 2024, the state experienced a significant reduction in the number of deaths, with the rate falling from 58.4 to 29.7 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, positioning Zacatecas as the state with the greatest improvement in both the homicide indicator and overall peace rating.”
Government agencies attribute this improvement to an increased presence of security forces in urban and rural areas, particularly the State Police, members of the Army, and the National Guard, as well as a special rapid response force created in 2023 to combat armed cartel activity in the state.
Zacatecas’ transformation is the result of a comprehensive strategy that included strengthening security and justice institutions, inter-institutional cooperation, and the application of technologies for criminal analysis. Since 2022, the state Public Security Secretariat has coordinated more than 2,100 operations in high-incidence areas, resulting in the arrest of more than 1,200 people linked to high-impact crimes, the seizure of weapons, and the dismantling of criminal cells.
In addition to the drop in homicides, Zacatecas saw improvements in most of the sub-indicators that make up the MPI. Violent crimes, particularly robbery, decreased by 8.9 percent.
The rate of gun crime has also steadily declined since 2021. Between 2023 and 2024, Zacatecas recorded the largest improvement in Mexico’s overall peace ranking, with an increase of over 22.5 percent. The rate of homicides committed with firearms (which represent 72 percent of homicides committed in the state) decreased by 52 percent, while the rate of assaults committed with firearms also showed significant improvements, making Zacatecas the state with the greatest improvement in the country in the gun crime indicator.
The state also showed a positive change in the Positive Peace Index, which assesses structural factors such as access to justice, good governance, and low levels of corruption.
Zacatecas now represents an emblematic case in the improvement of peace conditions in Mexico. According to the Institute for Economics and Peace, its trajectory can serve as a model for other entities, especially in the management of criminal conflict in high-risk contexts.
The Zacatecas government, led by state leader David Monreal Ávila, has announced that it will strengthen its social crime prevention programs, with a projected investment of 500 million pesos by 2025 for community centers, psychosocial support for victims, and initiatives in secondary schools.
Source: expresszacatecas
