Mexico’s two largest cities have crime rates about twice as high as the national average and 13 percent of households report at least one crime victim, according to country’s biggest survey on public safety.
The study of 65,957 households in 13 cities, the largest sample ever taken, provides the first clear picture of the prevalence of urban crime in Mexico, said Luis de la Barreda, president of the government-assisted Citizens Institute for the Study of Public Safety.
“The lack of public safety is exactly what gives investors pause,” Mexican Business Council’s Jose Luis Barraza said during a press conference today in Mexico City where the report was released.
The scale of crime in Mexico, as shown by the study taken between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 of 2004, shows lawlessness that threatens economic growth in Latin America’s second-largest economy, Barraza said.
Twenty-nine percent of Mexico City households in 2004 reported one or more crime victims, according to the study. In Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city, 25.7 percent of households reported one or more crime victims, according to the Mexico City-based group.
Only 23.8 percent of Mexicans say they report crimes, the study found. The top reasons cited for failure to report being a crime victim include mistrust of authorities and difficult and lengthy paperwork, according to the survey.
Eight of 10 residents in Mexico City and in the northern city of Culiacan say they feel unsafe, according to the survey.
Violent robbery is the country’s most common crime, accounting for about 65.8 percent of Mexico City’s total crime, according to the report. In Mexico City criminals use guns in about 65 percent of crimes.
In a separate poll released last week by Consulta Mitofsky, a majority of Mexicans nationwide cited public safety as their chief concern for the first time. Residents had cited the economy as the No. 1 problem in Mexico the previous five years.
The Mitofsky poll of 1,000 residents was taken between Nov. 19 and 20, 2005.
