Brazil’s Crime Costs Double in Two Decades to More Than $75 Billion
- Amid budget caps, govt. report calls for data-driven policy
- Report urges avoiding policies that boost prison population
Armed officers from the Pacifying Police Unit (UPP) patrol in the Providencia favela of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Tuesday, June 23, 2015.
Photographer: Dado Galdieri/Bloomberg
Crime now costs Latin America’s largest economy over $75 billion a year, double the amount of two decades prior, and efforts to combat its spread have had only "limited" effect, according to a government report published on Monday.
Brazil lost 285 billion reais to crime in 2015, up from 113 billion reais in 1996, according to the first-ever report released by the federal government on the issue. The total cost of public security, private security, insurance, imprisonment, productivity losses, as well as associated legal and medical costs now eats up 4.38 percent of GDP. Evidence shows that the cost has only risen since.