Brazil is suffering an epidemic of violent crime. Persistent inequality, youth unemployment, high levels of impunity and punitive drug laws have contributed to a surge in homicidal violence since 2010. Home to just 3 percent of the world's population, the South American nation now registers 14 percent of all global homicides.
Accounting for the economic costs of this phenomenon isn't easy – it's impossible to put an adequate price on the pain and suffering endured by victims of violent crime, much less their families and friends.
But a groundbreaking study issued yesterday by Brazil's presidential office for strategic affairs marks a significant step in that direction. Authored by a small internal team and a group of advisers, the report measures the economic effects of violence in Brazil on everything from public health and criminal justice to private security and the earning potential of both victims and offenders. The study offers a glimpse at the scale of Brazil's violence and why past strategies to control it have proven ineffective. It should be a wake-up call for all Brazilians.
The report, The Economic Costs of Crime in Brazil, shows how quickly the costs of violent crime add up. In 2015, the most recent year for which comprehensive data is available, public security costs totaled 1.36 percent of Brazil's GDP. Spending on private security amounted to 0.94 percent, judicial processes 0.58 percent, incarceration 0.26 percent, and medical expenditures related to crime 0.05 percent. According to the study, the killing of a young Brazilian costs about 550,000 reais (about $150,000) of lost productivity over their lifetime.
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