All 10 Brazilian cities with the highest rates of violent deaths are located in the Northeast, according to information released by Agência Brasil based on the 20th Brazilian Yearbook of Public Security. The survey, prepared by the Brazilian Public Security Forum, compiles crime data for 2025 and finds that Bahia accounts for half of the municipalities in the national ranking.
According to Agência Brasil, five of the 10 cities are in Bahia, three are in Ceará, one is in Pernambuco and one is in Paraíba. The ranking uses the rate of Intentional Violent Deaths (MVI) per 100,000 residents, a measure that makes it possible to compare municipalities with populations of different sizes.
The municipalities listed, in descending order based on the rates provided, are Maranguape, Ceará, with 100.3 deaths per 100,000 residents; Eunápolis, Bahia, with 85.1; Maracanaú, Ceará, with 80.7; Porto Seguro, Bahia, with 71.2; Simões Filho, Bahia, with 58.1; Jequié, Bahia, with 57.4; Caucaia, Ceará, with 56.6; Juazeiro, Bahia, with 55.8; Cabo de Santo Agostinho, Pernambuco, with 55.1; and Santa Rita, Paraíba, with 50.9.
Maranguape leads the ranking. Its reported rate of 100.3 intentional violent deaths per 100,000 residents is five times the national average, according to the information accompanying the survey. The city is in Ceará, as are Maracanaú and Caucaia, the other municipalities from that state in the top 10.
Eunápolis is second, with a rate of 85.1 per 100,000 residents. The municipality was not among the 20 highest-ranked cities in the previous survey, according to the published information. Maracanaú ranks third, with 80.7. It is near Maranguape and Fortaleza International Airport, as noted in the accompanying description.
Porto Seguro, with a rate of 71.2, is fourth. Simões Filho ranks fifth, at 58.1, followed by Jequié at 57.4 and Caucaia at 56.6. Juazeiro’s rate is 55.8, while Cabo de Santo Agostinho records 55.1. Santa Rita completes the group, with 50.9 deaths per 100,000 residents.
The Brazilian Public Security Forum’s category of Intentional Violent Deaths includes intentional homicides, femicides, robberies resulting in death, bodily injuries resulting in death and deaths resulting from police interventions. It also includes deaths of police officers, whether they occur while officers are on duty or outside their working hours. The category therefore brings together several types of fatal violence rather than describing only one form of crime.
The rate is calculated in relation to the population, rather than being a count of the total number of deaths. This distinction matters when comparing cities of different sizes: the rate expresses how frequently deaths were recorded relative to the number of residents. A municipality with a smaller population can have a high rate even if its total number of recorded deaths is lower than that of a larger city. Conversely, a large city’s absolute number of deaths alone does not establish its position in a ranking based on deaths per 100,000 residents.
The figures refer to 2025, as reported in the survey, and the ranking should be understood as a comparison of the recorded rates for that period. It does not, by itself, describe every aspect of public safety in a city or explain the circumstances of individual deaths. The listed rates are a standardized way to compare the scale of the problem across municipalities while accounting for differences in population.
According to the Brazilian Public Security Forum, competition among criminal organizations for control of drug trafficking is the principal factor associated with the violence rates recorded in these cities. The forum also points to the location of some municipalities, particularly those near important highways, as a factor that can influence criminal groups’ interest in those areas. These are the explanations identified in the survey’s discussion of the pattern; the ranking itself presents rates and does not assign a separate cause to each municipality.
The geographic concentration is notable in the results: all 10 cities are in four states in the Northeast, with Bahia representing five of them. Ceará contributes three cities, while Pernambuco and Paraíba each contribute one. The regional concentration does not mean that every municipality in these states has the same rate, nor does the ranking provide a comparison with every other city in the country. It identifies the 10 municipalities with the highest reported rates in the national data for the period covered.
The rate differences among several cities in the lower part of the list are relatively close. Jequié’s rate is 57.4 per 100,000 residents, compared with 56.6 in Caucaia, 55.8 in Juazeiro and 55.1 in Cabo de Santo Agostinho. Santa Rita’s rate is 50.9. Those figures show why the rate, rather than a general label or raw total, is important when describing the order of the municipalities.
The survey’s measure also makes clear that “violent deaths” in this ranking has a specific statistical meaning. Because the category combines different kinds of intentional fatal violence, it should not be read as a count limited to homicides or to deaths caused by one particular circumstance. The figures bring together the categories included in the MVI definition and present them as a rate for comparison.
Together, the reported numbers show the scale and geographic distribution of the highest rates in the 2025 ranking. Maranguape stands at the top, followed by Eunápolis and Maracanaú; the remaining cities are also in the Northeast, with five in Bahia, three in Ceará, one in Pernambuco and one in Paraíba. The figures provide a population-adjusted comparison of the municipalities included in the survey and reflect the categories of deaths defined by the Brazilian Public Security Forum.
