Violence in Mexico has increased by almost 70% in a decade, if disappearances, femicides, and other crimes against life are taken into account, warned the organization México Evalúa.
This situation contrasts sharply with the official narrative on violence, as the government focuses solely on the reduction of intentional homicides since September 2014.
During the presentation of the report “Violence in Mexico, 2015-2025: Data Analysis and Proposals for Peace,” Mariana Campos, director of the organization, pointed out that the phenomenon cannot be analyzed using only a single national metric.
For this reason, she added, the study incorporates five indicators of lethal violence: femicide, intentional homicide, manslaughter, other crimes against life, and missing persons.
“How a problem is measured determines how it is addressed,” stated Mariana Campos, clarifying that the analysis does not seek to undermine the federal government’s security strategy.
According to the study, more than 72,000 incidents of lethal violence were recorded in 2025, a 68.2% increase compared to 2015.
Between September 2024 and December 2025, the first 15 months of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s term, intentional homicides fell by 40% nationwide, according to official data.
However, the NGO’s analysis found that lethal violence only decreased by 8% in the last year, considering the five indicators mentioned.
For his part, Armando Vargas, coordinator of the Security program at México Evalúa, clarified that the study defines lethal violence as “any act that intentionally seeks to end a person’s life.”
“Although intentional homicide shows a recent reduction, other crimes maintain high and even increasing trajectories,” Vargas warned.
She emphasized that the index is a national snapshot that obscures local dynamics of lethal violence, where behavior is highly heterogeneous.
Regarding intentional homicide, Mariana Campos explained that it decreased by 22.2% since 2014, but remains 30.7% above the levels recorded in 2015, according to the study.
However, with respect to manslaughter—unintentional homicide—she warned that the data shows anomalous growth that “could be indicating flaws in the classification and measurement of violent deaths.”
Nationally, it decreased by 45% since 2014 and increased by 7.7% since 2015, according to the report, which also found that states like Quintana Roo, Michoacán, and Zacatecas show rates “much higher” than those of intentional homicide.
Regarding the category of other crimes against life and bodily integrity, which includes violent deaths that are difficult to classify, the specialist clarified that it also exhibits anomalous and atypical behavior, considering it to be a “statistically residual crime.”
Since 2015, it has increased by 370% nationwide, with alarming increases in states such as Baja California Sur (6,606%), Baja California (916%), Tabasco (694%), and Sinaloa (88%), he warned.
“(These are) states with a strong presence of organized crime, which suggests possible reclassifications, rather than real changes in the magnitude of the violence.”
While femicide has decreased by 15.5% since 2014, it remains 68.5% above 2015 levels, the expert cautioned.
He emphasized that his analysis is crucial because it tends to intensify in contexts of crime and impunity, as is the case in states like Sinaloa and Morelos.
Regarding disappearances, Campos emphasized that their analysis is crucial because they involve the concealment of crimes by organized crime.
According to the report, disappearances decreased by 0.5% since 2014 but increased by 213% since 2015, concentrated in specific corridors such as Sinaloa (150%), Sonora (168%), and Baja California (5,728%).
“Disappearances seem to confirm that some lethal violence may not be decreasing but rather becoming less visible, which demands more comprehensive analyses and moving away from the isolated analysis of intentional homicide,” the specialist concluded.
Source: yucatan
