Is it the City of God or the City God Forgot?

In addition to good eats, another thing that Recife excels at is violence. According to statistics gathered by the Mortality Information System of the Brazilian Ministry of Health, Recife is tops when it comes to firearm-related mortality. When compared to other state capitals, Recife consistantly comes up in the top spot, particularly when the data is segregated by gender. Violence in Brazil has generally increased dramatically in the last twenty years, and although the reasons behind it are complex, the basic factors of poverty, low education levels, illiteracy, lack of adequate housing, overcrowding, lack of access to public services including schools, health care and the justice system, and the growth of the organised drug trade has led to firearm mortality rates in the urban periphery and young male population that exceeds rates found in countries embroiled in a state of civil war.

In Recife, the majority of firearm-related violence is found in the informal settlements [shantytowns/favelas] around the periphery of the city. While the rest of the city is not violence-free, one just needs to keep aware, but not necessarily limit one's activities. The following graph gives the data for the top three state capitals in each of five categories. I also threw Florianópolis -- largely regarded as one of the nicest cities in Brazil -- in for comparison.

City	Target Population	Firearm-related Homicides per 100,000
		1991	2000
Recife	Total Population	41.7	56.5
Cuiabá		6.1	48.4
Rio		48.5	43.4
Florianópolis		4.1	7.2*
Recife	Total Male Population	93.6	125.3
Cuiabá		10.0	104.0
Rio		104.4	90.6
Florianópolis		8.1	14.5*
Recife	Male Population Aged 15-19	125.81	222.13
Rio		214.59	202.89
Cuiabá		14.23	181.93
Florianópolis		16.36	11.49*
Recife	Male Population Aged 20-29	210.12	327.39
Rio		241.57	220.62
Vitória		155.38	206.99
Florianópolis		16.49	21.60*
Recife	Male Population Aged 30-39	147.28	162.48
Vitória		95.52	139.87
Cuiabá		16.60	134.65
Florianópolis		10.02	29.54

One shocking realisation when looking at the figures is not just the level of firearm violence found in Recife [the firearm homicide rate for Recifense males 20-29 years old is an astounding 329 per 100,000], but the exponential growth of violence in other state capitals. For example, while Cuiabá has lower levels of violence than does Recife, in some cases their level of violence has increased by over 1800% in the ten years covered by the study.

In an effort to curb alcohol-fueled violence, this past week Recife instated a Dry Law [no alcohol sales after 11pm] in select neighbourhoods prone to high levels of violence. The decision was made following the example of Diadema, a São Paulo suburb which managed to cut its overall homicide rate from 141 per 100,000 -- at the time the highest homicide rate in the world [compared to Recife's 56.5] -- to a quarter of that within a five year period. Although limiting access to alcohol will certainly have an effect, an equally dedicated investment in improving social conditions needs to accompany the process as well. It will be interesting to follow up on the statistics in a another year or two, and until then, keep your chin up and your eyes open.

* Denotes the cases when this is also the lowest value for all state capitals.