The number of violent deaths decreased by 3% in Colombia between 2010 and 2011, said officials Tuesday.
In a joint report, the government’s National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Science and the Road Prevention Fund Corporation, a corporation focused on protecting the lives of those on the road, said in 2011 the number of violent deaths and homicides in Colombia went down, while the number of suicides and deaths caused by road accidents increased.
In 2011, there were 28,996 reported cases of violent deaths, a 3% decrease on the 2010 figure. Homicide cases were recorded at 16,554 people for 2011 while there were 17,459 homicides reported in 2010. According to the report, firearms are still used in most murders.
However, fatal deaths from road accidents rose to 5,792 people in 2011, up from the 5,704 known cases in 2010. Suicide also increased to 1,889 people in 2011, 25 more than the 1,864 cases reported in 2010.
This data was presented in “Forensics 2011: Data for Life,” a document that gathers figures about violence and accidents in Colombia and analyzes them from the perspective of public health so that government and medical officials can use the data to make policies aimed at lowering the incidence of these events.