Merida remains among Mexico’s 10 safest cities

In September 2022, 64.4 % of the Mexican population over the age of 18 considered it unsafe to live in their city. Mexico holds the less-than-honorable first place of having the five most violent cities in Latin America; however, Mérida remains among the 10 safest cities in the country.

Today, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) published the National Urban Public Safety Survey (ENSU) corresponding to the third quarter of 2022 and the measurement monitors 75 cities in the country. It highlights that 38 % of Mexicans believe that violence will not be reduced in the country and will increase in the coming months.

The ENSU measurement, which is published quarterly, indicates that cities such as Fresnillo, Zacatecas; Irapuato, Guanajuato; Naucalpan, State of Mexico; Zacatecas, Zacatecas; Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Colima, Colima and Cancún, Quintana Roo are the most violent in the country with 94.7, 91.3, 90.8, 90.7, 90.1, 90 and 86.6 % of insecurity, respectively, according to citizens.

The measurement explains that, during September 2022, 70.5 % of women and 57.2 % of men considered their city an unsafe place to live in.

The monitoring conducted by the institution took place from August 29 to September 15, 2022. Its general objective is to estimate people’s perception of public safety in their city. The survey is nationally representative and focuses on urban areas.

According to the ENSU, Merida is ranked number 8 among the cities with the lowest perception of insecurity, establishing that, from June to September, it reduced this perception among the population by 6 points, since, in the last quarterly evaluation it reported 34.1 % of insecurity and last September 29.0, according to the citizen survey.

The survey warns that the five safest cities, in the opinion of citizens, are San Pedro Garza, Nuevo Leon; Benito Juarez, Mexico; Piedras Negras, Coahuila; Tampico, Tamaulipas; Los Mochis. Sinaloa; and Cuajimalpa, Mexico; with 14.5, 20.6, 23.8, 25.0, 25.0 and 25.1 %.

Regarding the perception of insecurity in specific physical spaces, in September 2022, 73.6 % of Yucatecans said they felt insecure at ATMs located on public streets; 67.4 %, on public transportation; 58.5 %, at the bank; and 57.4 %, on streets of their neighborhood or subdivision.

Likewise, 35.2 % of Yucatecans considered that, in the next 12 months, the crime and insecurity situation in their city will continue to be as bad as it is today. On the other hand, 25.7 % of the population said that the situation will worsen in the next 12 months.

The measurement, ENSU, carried out quarterly for the last 10 years, indicates that, in the last decade, the population’s perception of insecurity has increased by 1,700 %, due to the geographical conditions, as many cities in Mexico have become hotspots of extreme violence.

TYT Newsroom