Crimes and their cost increased in Mexico during 2023: Inegi

Mexico City. In Mexico, both the number of people who reported having been victims of an offense and the number of crimes that occurred per 100 thousand inhabitants increased, led by fraud, during 2023, which generated an increase in the cost of crime in homes. Mexicans for up to 282 billion pesos, the highest figure since 2018, revealed the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).

Through the National Survey of Victimization and Perception of Public Security (Envipe) 2024, which was presented this Thursday, Inegi estimated that the crime prevalence in the country; That is, the number of people who reported having been victims of a crime grew from 2012 to 2017; and from 2017 onwards a decrease has been reported that has slowed down. However, in 2023, 23,323 victims were reported per 100,000 inhabitants, a significant change compared to 2022 of 22,587 per 100,000 people.

For its part, the crime incidence; That is, the number of crimes occurred per 100 thousand inhabitants, reached a peak in 2014 (41 thousand 655) and decreased in 2015 (35 thousand 497) and found a peak again in 2017. After that, the trend was of decrease, but starting in 2022 the trend was reversed and in 2023 a rate of 33,267 crimes per 100,000 inhabitants was reached, the second highest value in the last five years.

During the presentation of Envipe 2024, Dwight Dyer Leal, general director of Government Statistics, Public Security and Justice of Inegi, explained that the highest number of crime victims is reported in the urban area; That is to say, the phenomenon is mainly concentrated in urban areas, although it is still worrying in rural areas.

Men are victims of crime in a greater proportion than women, and the gaps have been closing because the number of women who have been victims of a crime has increased significantly.

Fraud: from fourth to first place

From 2012 to 2017 there was an increase in the cost of crime in Mexico, after 2017 to 2021 there was a decrease; This trend was broken in 2022 and continued to rise in 2023 when 282 billion pesos were recorded as the cost of crime in households, which represents 1.15 percent of the national GDP; This figure is four times the budget spent by public security institutions in the states.

For its part, the cost of preventive measures; That is, what households spend to protect themselves from victimization and crime, an increase was observed from 2012 to 2018 and from 2018 there is a slight decreasing trend, but in 2023 a household expenditure on preventive measures of 91.7 thousand was recorded. of millions of pesos. This expense is 1.4 times the budget spent by the country’s state public security institutions.

In 2023, the most frequent crimes were fraud, street robbery or assault, extortion, total or partial vehicle theft and verbal threats. For all there was a significant increase between 2022 and 2023. Fraud alone increased 20.5 percent; robbery and assault on the street more than 14 percent; Extortion grew 3 percent and partial vehicle theft also increased 20 percent and verbal threats 14 percent annually.

Adrián Franco, vice president of the Inegi Governing Board, explained that two phenomena are occurring in criminal activity in the country. The first is the concentration in some states of victimization and criminal activity and the second phenomenon is the configuration of crime, since fraud was established as the first criminal activity.

“Fraud is a very complex activity, like other crimes, but it is an activity that grows at a very rapid speed and the more electronic activity we have in the purchase and acquisition of goods, in commercial and financial transactions, obviously the Fraud is going to increase at that rate.

“Fraud was established in 19 states as the main criminal activity, well above extortion in six entities; or robbery on public transport in six other entities. These two phenomena can help us explain the changes from one year to the next. Robbery on the street or public transport or extortion were the main crimes in 2020; fraud was fourth place, now the roles have been reversed in the types of crimes,” Franco described.

Hidden figure

In 2023, of the 31.3 million crimes that occurred, only 10.4 percent were reported. This figure is statistically equivalent to that of 2022. The Public Ministry (MP), or state prosecutor’s office, opened an investigation folder in 68 percent of these complaints. The above implies that 92.9 percent of crimes were not investigated: this is known as the hidden figure. In 2023, its percentage was statistically equivalent to that of 2022 (92.4 percent).

The crimes fraud and extortion recorded the highest percentages of hidden figures, with 97 and 96.7 percent, respectively. In contrast, total vehicle theft presented the lowest figure, with 39.7 percent.

Among the reasons attributable to the authority for not reporting crimes to them by victims, the loss of time stands out, with 34.4 percent, and distrust in authority, with 12.7 percent. Likewise, 3 percent due to the hostile attitude of the authority.

For their part, seven out of 10 citizens in the country do not feel safe in the city where they live.