Daily Killings in the nation Decline Thirty-Seven Percent Under Claudia Sheinbaum, According to Official Data

The mean figure of daily killings each month in the country has decreased by thirty-seven percent since Head of State Claudia Sheinbaum began her term, as stated by new administrative statistics. However, security specialists have advised that homicide data may not signal enhanced countrywide stability.

Notable Reduction in Daily Numbers

Officials reported an average of close to 55 homicides a day in the month of November compared with roughly 87 when Claudia Sheinbaum took the leadership in the previous September. This information was shared by the head of the nation's national public security system, Marcela Figueroa Franco, during the president’s daily press briefing on a recent Tuesday.

“The result in murders that we have seen over these past months is extremely significant,” Sheinbaum remarked, adding that in November the smallest figure of murders were registered for any single November in the last decade.

Recent Context and Official Strategy

Intense cartel rivalries, coupled with the administration's heavily militarised operations to confront the trafficking organizations, have led to Mexico’s homicide rate escalate in recent years. The rate hit a record high of 36,773 homicides in 2020, per the country’s official data agency.

That resulted in Mexico a homicide figure more than 4x greater than the United States. Since then, killings have been on the downward trend, dropping to 33,550 last year. Sheinbaum has attributed her national security approach for an apparently more pronounced decline in killings this year.

At a press conference in August, the head of state stated: “There is a strategy, there is tracking of the plan, and there is specific tracking municipality by municipality in some cases. The strategy works. And we have to persist at it every day.”

The main components of Sheinbaum’s safety strategy include:

• Bolstering Mexico’s national guard.
• Improving information gathering and investigation capabilities.
• Enhanced coordination between various departments.

Analyst Warnings and Statistical Limitations

But, public safety analysts warned that relying on murder statistics to draw a conclusion of pacification was flawed. This is especially true given the uptick in different criminal activities such as forced disappearances.

“This would be positive information if this was a decrease, but I think we shouldn't just look at the homicide numbers and think: ‘Well then, great,’” commented Cecilia Farfán-Méndez, an specialist on Mexico's cartels. “I would be tentatively hopeful.”

According to the public policy analysis thinktank Mexico Evalúa, homicides in total dropped by over 20% in the first 10 months of this year versus the identical period the previous year. Yet, missing persons cases have risen by 15% and in some states have risen by as much as 200%.

“Numbers on homicides is no longer valid for assessing the reality of insecurity,” stated Armando Vargas, a safety analyst at Mexico Evalúa. “Firstly, we have law enforcement and investigators who do not have the resources or the will to correctly recognize and categorize bodies. Second, organized [criminals] … have the means to mask violent acts through disappearances.”

Vargas noted that using monthly averages of everyday homicides was additionally concerning because it could mask periods when there were notably elevated numbers of murders.

“Relying on the per-day mean makes high peaks of violent crime unseen,” he stated.

Detentions and Seizures as Metrics of Progress

Where the government can cite the success of its security plan is on detentions and confiscations. Nearly 40,000 suspects were apprehended between last October and November 2025 for serious crimes, per official data. Over 20,000 firearms were taken and 311 tonnes of drugs intercepted.

“Donald Trump cannot claim President Sheinbaum of inaction, because in reality she is accomplishing a lot with these many thousands of detentions, many thousands of confiscations, and all the operational weakening of organised crime. It’s highly in political terms beneficial,” commented Vargas.

Ongoing Violence and Societal Anger

But in spite of these actions, Mexico remains plagued by high bloodshed, with multiple states in the grip of cartel-fueled conflict. Last month there was a high-profile assassination of a popular mayor in the region of Michoacan, one of 10 local leaders murdered in the last 12 months.

A short time after, thousands of young people took to the streets in the capital and throughout the nation to express their frustration at graft and drug violence.

“The government presents [data] in a way to build a story of security. From a political standpoint it’s extremely effective, from a social perspective it’s very debatable,” the analyst concluded.