Everyday Murders in Mexico Decline Thirty-Seven Percent During Claudia Sheinbaum, According to Government Statistics

The mean count of daily murders each month in the country has decreased by 37% since President Claudia Sheinbaum began her term, according to recent official data. Nevertheless, public safety experts have advised that homicide data could fail to signal improved national security.

Marked Reduction in Daily Averages

There was an mean of almost 55 homicides a day in last November compared with roughly 87 when the President assumed the presidency in September. This announcement was provided by the head of the nation's national public security agency, Marcela Figueroa Franco, during the leader's daily press briefing on Tuesday.

“The outcome in killings that have been recorded during these months is very notable,” Sheinbaum stated, noting that last month the lowest amount of homicides were registered for any November in the past decade.

Historical Context and Government Strategy

Violent organized crime rivalries, coupled with the administration's heavily military operations to combat the drug gangs, have led to Mexico’s murder rate soar in recent times. The rate reached a maximum of 36,773 killings in 2020, as reported by the country’s official data office.

That meant Mexico a homicide figure more than 4x higher than the United States. Since then, homicides have been on the decline, declining to 33,550 in the last calendar year. The President has credited her public safety approach for an apparently sharper reduction in killings in the current year.

At a media briefing in the summer, the Mexican leader said: “There is a plan, we have monitoring of the strategy, and we have detailed tracking locality by locality in certain cases. The strategy functions. And we have to keep working at it daily.”

The central elements of Sheinbaum’s safety plan involve:

• Strengthening Mexico’s national guard.
• Advancing information gathering and investigation work.
• Increased cooperation between various departments.

Analyst Caution and Data Limitations

Nevertheless, public safety researchers warned that relying on murder statistics to draw a conclusion of improved security was flawed. This is notably true given the increase in other crimes such as people going missing.

“This would be excellent news if this was a decrease, but I think we must not just focus on the murder data and conclude: ‘Well then, good,’” said Cecilia Farfán-Méndez, an authority on Mexican criminal organizations. “I would be tentatively positive.”

As reported by the public policy research organization Mexico Evalúa, killings overall dropped by more than 20% in the first 10 months of the current year relative to the same timeframe last year. But, disappearances have increased by 15% and in certain regions have increased by as much as 200%.

“Numbers on homicides is not useful for assessing the context of public insecurity,” argued Armando Vargas, a safety expert at Mexico Evalúa. “Firstly, we have police and investigators who lack the ability or the inclination to properly recognize and categorize remains. Secondly, organised [criminals] … have the capability to hide violent acts through disappearances.”

Vargas added that using month-to-month averages of everyday killings was similarly concerning because it may mask periods when there were especially high numbers of killings.

“Using the per-day mean renders spikes of violence unseen,” he said.

Detentions and Seizures as Measures of Progress

An area where the government can cite the success of its safety strategy is on detentions and confiscations. Almost 40,000 individuals were arrested between last October and November 2025 for high-impact crimes, per government data. Over 20,000 weapons were seized and 311 tons of drugs seized.

“The former US president cannot claim President Sheinbaum of doing nothing, because actually she is accomplishing a lot with these many thousands of arrests, many thousands of confiscations, and all the tactical degrading of organised crime. It’s highly politically advantageous,” commented Vargas.

Ongoing Unrest and Societal Frustration

But in spite of these measures, Mexico continues to be beset by extreme bloodshed, with several states in the midst of cartel-driven bloodshed. Last month there was a prominent assassination of a popular local official in the region of Michoacan, one of 10 mayors killed in the past 12 months.

Weeks after, many thousands of young people protested in Mexico City and across the nation to show their anger at graft and narco-violence.

“The federal government shares [data] in a way to create a narrative of safety. From a political standpoint it’s highly effective, socially it’s highly problematic,” Vargas concluded.