Catalina Espinosa
Research expert covering society, economy, and politics for Europe and the EU
Crime and violence in Colombia – statistics & facts
Colombia is one of the most affected countries by criminality and violence in the world. In just the last ten years, public expenditure on order and security has increased 130 percent, reaching over 34 billion Colombian pesos. Meanwhile, the cost of violence for the country in 2023 was around 274 billion dollars, almost the double when compared to 2015. Overall, gang violence, drug trafficking, and corruption impact all Colombian residents, creating a climate of insecurity and fueling migration abroad.
Fluctuating homicide rates
In 2024, Colombia ranked third with the highest homicide rate in South America, only behind Ecuador and Venezuela. During that same year, the homicide rate decreased for the third year in a row to around 25.4 cases per every 100,000 inhabitants, which translates to more than 13,300 people losing their lives. Even though this figure is still among the worst globally, it shows an improvement from past decades, namely comparing to the most violent years in Colombian history, from the period known as “La Violencia” (1948-1959) and the operations of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC, 1964-2016). Since armed conflicts and criminal organizations use illegal firearms, these have become one of the main problems linked to crime and homicides, as almost 77 percent of homicides were conducted with firearms.Femicides in Colombia
In Colombia, the legal framework of femicide is the killing of women due to their condition of being a woman or gender identity motives. Femicide was not typified as a crime in the country until 2015. Nine years later, 888 victims of femicide were reported in Colombia, 381 cases less than the previous year. Antioquia, Bogota, and Atlántico were the departments with the highest number of femicides, with more than 80 each. As in other countries, women are most likely to be killed by the people closest to them. In most cases in Colombia, the perpetrator was a current or former steady partner, ex-boyfriend, or boyfriend.The war against cocaine
Drugs are a dangerous and lucrative business. It is estimated that one kilogram of cocaine paste was worth 1.73 billion Colombian pesos in 2022. At the same time, the minimum monthly wage in Colombia in 2024 was around 1.42 million COP. To end the illicit cultivation of coca, the government eradicated around 20,000 hectares in 2023. However, it was estimated that during the same year around 253,000 hectares of national territory were used for the illicit cultivation of coca, almost ten times more than the harvested area for soybeans. The government announced that in 2023 approximately 76,500 metric tons of cocaine paste and another 746 metric tons of cocaine were seized.
