Brazil’s reputation as the murder capital of the world was confirmed after the country beat its own record for the number of homicides in a single year.
The South American country saw 63,880 killed in 2017, a 3.7 per cent rise on the previous year, according to the Brazilian Forum of Public Security (BFPS).
The figures come just months before a presidential election in which violence has become a key issue.
Brazil broke its own record for the number of murders in a single year after 63,880 people were slain in 2017 (file image)
The country also saw an 8 per cent increase in rapes, up to 60,018, while the number of women murdered rose to 4,539, up 6 per cent.
In 2017, Brazil had a murder rate of 30.8 per 100,000 people, up from 29.9 in 2016.
The figures were published in a yearbook by the BFPS, an independent organisation that tracks national crime statistics.
Triggered by ever-more violent gangs capitalising on tighter law enforcement budgets and a political void in the wake of massive graft scandals, growing violence is a key voter concern ahead of the October election.
Far-right lawmaker Jair Bolsonaro, who leads polling in the presidential race excluding jailed former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, wants to loosen gun laws and toughen up policing to tackle the rise in violence.
His popularity has forced opponents including centrist former governor Geraldo Alckmin to join forces with law-and-order conservatives to bolster their crime-fighting credentials.
There was also an 8 per cent increase in rapes, up to 60,018, while the number of women murdered rose to 4,539 (file image)
The yearbook data showed that many of the record number of murders, which includes police killed in the line of duty, were concentrated in Brazil’s poorer northeastern states.
The state of Rio Grande do Norte had the highest murder rate in 2017, with 68 murders per 100,000 people, followed by Acre, in the far west of the country bordering Peru, with 63.9 per 100,000 people.
The wealthier state of Sao Paulo had the lowest murder rate of any state, with 10.7 homicides per 100,000 people.
In the absence of comprehensive federal crime data, the BFPS collects official state-level data and is used as a reference by the federal government.