Rising homicide rates are damaging Brazil's economy and leading to skyrocketing public security costs, according to a study.

Beyond the emotional toll on families and communities, homicides between 1996 and 2015 robbed the country of more than $119 billion in potential productive capacity, according to the study by the Brazilian government with contributions from Igarape.

Over that period, both public and private security costs tripled.

The overall costs of criminality in Brazil, Latin America's most populous nation, are equivalent to about 4 percent of gross domestic product, according to the study.

Between 1996 and 2015, said the study, the average number of homicides jumped from 35,000 to more than 54,000 each year. That represents a 54 percent increase in murders while the population was growing by 40 percent.

https://igarape.org.br/en/media/press-release/