We take safety seriously here, there is no joking around when it comes to murder and violent crime. Mexico, as a country, is taking it seriously as well.
This article is to bring attention to the statistical facts about the murder rates in Mexico, both for Mexican Nationals and U.S. citizens. The overall rates from 2015-2018 within Mexico are shown in the chart at the bottom of this page.
For those of us who live in Mexico, the emphasis in the U.S. press on how violent and murderous Mexico reflects a total lack of context, when compared to the reality of violent crimes and murder in the U.S. is unfair at best. Statistically speaking, when you are focusing on overall violet crimes, Mexico is a safer place to live than the U.S.!
If you want to compare U.S. and Mexico Crime Statistics in more detail you can check this link: https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/Mexico/United-States/Crime#
The somewhat dated chart below simply demonstrates American deaths in Mexico related to murder rates only. Still valid and relative to compare in 2019. The cited data is discussed further below. Yes, this specific chart and comparison is ONLY pointing out American victims in Mexico. The statistical point here is to show expats, workers from the U.S. and tourists are rarely involved in the overall scary stats about murder in Mexico.
The chart above (click on the chart, or here for a larger version of the chart) is a summary of statistics taken from the U.S. State Department website for deaths in foreign countries due to unnatural causes for 2010, and the FBI website on U.S. Crime statistics analysis (complete year 2010). Bear in mind that these numbers include the more than 150,000 Americans who cross the border every day to visit Mexico, not just the ex-pat population and tourists. Notice that not a single state in the U.S. is in the “baby blue” or “white” category.
However, there are 27 states in Mexico within those categories.
The U.S. State Department reports that 75 Americans of the over 31 million who visited or lived in Mexico in 2016 were murdered, which is a rate of 2.25 of 100,000 visitors.
About the same odds of being struck by lightening in your lifetime.
Oh yes!! The criminal element in Mexico, primarily the drug cartels, have guns – big, bad guns – thanks mostly to the efforts of the U.S. Justice Department. But, gun ownership is very difficult in Mexico (an extensive and expensive application process), so if you forsake any plans for a career as a mule with the Tijuana or Zeta Drug Cartels, you can forget about seeing guns, at all. And yes, petty theft is a problem everywhere in Mexico (where there is poverty, there will be petty theft) – but, again compare it with theft in the U.S. (statistics not shown here, but available on the FBI website, link below) where the amount of theft has been in the seven- and eight-digit realm.
Use some common sense regarding your belongings, and you are unlikely to lose that cash, camera or laptop. Whereas, in the U.S., men in three-piece suits with impressive Wall Street addresses have been known to steal most, sometimes all, of retirement savings.
Let the numbers tell you the real story!
The above statistics reflect the total number of homicides in Mexico from January 2015 to December, 2018.
