RIO DE JANEIRO, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Brazil registered 65,602 murders in 2017, higher than the number of 63,880 previously reported in 2018, according to a study published Wednesday by Brazilian authorities.
With the figures, Brazil's murder rate reached 31.6 murders per every 100,000 inhabitants, said the study conducted by the Brazilian government-led research organization Institute for Applied Economic Research and the Brazilian Public Security Forum.
"What is going on in Brazil is really staggering and completely off global standards. Few countries get close to Brazil when it comes to murder rate," said Daniel Cerqueira, a coordinator of the study.
The figures vary significantly between states, with the highest murder rate of 62.8 registered in Rio Grande do Norte State in the northeast, and the lowest rate of 10.5 in Sao Paulo State, the most populated state in Brazil.
Data showed that youngsters aged 15-29 were most affected by violent deaths in Brazil, with 35,783 murder victims in this age group in 2017.
There was also an increase in the number of murders of women, which reached 4,936 in 2017. In 10 years, murders of women rose 30.7 percent.
Firearms were the leading weapon used in murders, being responsible for some 70 percent of all murders that occurred in the country in 2017.
The study warned that before Brazil passed stricter gun control laws, murders by firearms rose significantly every year, but after the stricter laws, the numbers rose at a much slower pace.
Study coordinators warned that easing gun control laws, as the current government has been proposing, will lead to a hike in Brazil's murder rate.
"Having a firearm inside the house, contrary to popular belief, increases by five or ten times the chance that a resident of the house will be murdered with that weapon," Cerqueira said.
