Everyday Killings in the nation Fall Thirty-Seven Percent During President Sheinbaum, According to Government Data

The average count of everyday killings each month in Mexico has decreased by more than a third since President Claudia Sheinbaum assumed power, as stated by new government statistics. However, security analysts have cautioned that murder data might not indicate better national stability.

Marked Reduction in Per-Day Averages

Officials reported an average of close to 55 killings a day in November as opposed to almost 87 when Claudia Sheinbaum began the presidential office in September. This data was delivered by the director of the nation's federal public security system, Marcela Figueroa Franco, during the leader's regular news conference on a recent Tuesday.

“The result in killings that we have seen during these months is remarkably notable,” Sheinbaum said, noting that the previous month the smallest amount of murders were documented for any November in the past 10 years.

Recent Background and Official Plan

Violent organized crime internal conflicts, combined with the administration's highly militarised efforts to combat the cartels, have made Mexico’s murder rate rise sharply in recent years. The rate peaked at a peak of 36,773 killings in 2020, per the nation's national statistics office.

That resulted in Mexico a murder rate over four times greater than the United States. However, homicides have been on the downward trend, declining to 33,550 in the last calendar year. Sheinbaum has attributed her national security approach for an apparently steeper reduction in homicides in the current year.

At a press conference in August, the Mexican leader said: “We have a strategy, there is tracking of the plan, and there is specific tracking locality by locality in some cases. The approach is effective. And we have to persist at it daily.”

The main components of the President's safety plan include:

• Bolstering Mexico’s domestic security force.
• Improving intelligence and investigation capabilities.
• Enhanced collaboration between various departments.

Analyst Caution and Data Concerns

Nevertheless, public safety researchers urged caution that relying on murder numbers to draw a conclusion of peace was misleading. This is notably true given the uptick in other crimes such as forced disappearances.

“It would be very good information if this was a decrease, but I think we can’t just focus on the homicide numbers and say: ‘Oh well, great,’” said Cecilia Farfán-Méndez, an expert on Mexico's cartels. “I would be tentatively hopeful.”

According to the policy research thinktank Mexico Evalúa, murders in total fell by over 20% in the first 10 months of this year compared with the identical period the previous year. However, missing persons cases have gone up by 15% and in some regions have risen by up to 200%.

“Statistics on homicides is not useful for assessing the situation of public insecurity,” said Armando Vargas, a safety analyst at Mexico Evalúa. “First, we have law enforcement and investigators who do not have the capacity or the desire to correctly recognize and classify corpses. Secondly, organized [criminals] … have the ability to mask violent acts through disappearances.”

Vargas pointed out that relying on monthly averages of everyday homicides was additionally an issue because it might hide periods when there were especially high levels of murders.

“Relying on the per-day mean renders spikes of violence invisible,” he stated.

Detentions and Seizures as Measures of Success

Where the administration can point to the success of its security plan is on arrests and seizures. Close to 40,000 suspects were apprehended between October 2024 and November 2025 for high-impact offenses, per official data. More than 20,000 guns were seized and 311 tons of narcotics confiscated.

“Trump can't claim President Sheinbaum of not acting, 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 extremely in political terms beneficial,” said Vargas.

Persistent Unrest and Public Frustration

But in spite of these measures, Mexico is still beset by high bloodshed, with several regions in the grip of cartel-fueled conflict. Last month there was a notable murder of a well-liked local official in the region of Michoacan, one of 10 mayors assassinated in the last year.

Weeks after, thousands of protesters protested in Mexico City and across the country to voice their frustration at graft and narco-violence.

“The administration shares [data] in a manner to build a story of safety. From a political standpoint it’s very potent, from a social perspective it’s very problematic,” Vargas said.