Six out of ten Brazilians feel insecure when walking the streets of the cities where they live. 34% say they feel very insecure after dark and 26% say they feel a little insecure. The data comes from a Datafolha survey, an institution connected to the Folha de São Paulo newspaper.
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Fear in the Neighborhood, at Night and Among Women
In total, more than half of those interviewed say they feel insecure when walking at night in their own neighborhood, especially women and those over 45 years old.
Data from the 2023 Brazilian Public Security Forum Yearbook may help to explain the results among women. According to the report, despite various initiatives to contain violence against women, like the Maria da Penha Patrol, many indicators got worse. The number of feminicides increased by 6.1%, amassing a total of 1,437. Sexual harassment had a 49.7% increase, and 6,114 cases reported. Still, the result that stood out was the record in the number of rapes, 74,930 were recorded, the biggest result ever seen, and an 8.2% increase in comparison to 2021, especially because it is known that violences against women is largely under reported.
More Data from the Brazilian Public Security Forum
Additional data from the forum indicate that there has been a decrease in violence in the country since 2018. The 17th Brazilian Public Security Yearbook, published in July, shows that violent deaths in Brazil reached the lowest level in 12 years.
However, despite the improvements, the country accounts for around a fifth of the world’s homicides, even though it has 2.7% of the global population, according to 2020 data from the United Nations Office on Crime and Drugs. This makes Brazil the eighth country with the most violent deaths per 100,000 inhabitants of the world.
This information may help to explain why Datafolha’s survey showed that Brazilians’ concern about violence skyrocketed towards the end of 2022, and this area became the biggest problem for the population, alongside health
How the Research Was Done
Datafolha interviewed 2,016 people over the age of 16 across the country on September 12th and 13th. The margin of error is two percentage points, plus or minus.
