Black citizens in Brazil are 23.5 per cent more likely to be murdered than non-blacks, a study published by the Brazilian Public Security Forum and the Institute for Applied Economic Research said on Tuesday.
According to the report 2017 Atlas of Violence, the murder rate among black citizens rose by 18.2 per cent between 2005 and 2015.
The report added that among non-blacks, the rate fell by 12.2 per cent over the same period.
The figures reflect inequality between black and non-black people in Brazil.
According to the study, of every 100 people murdered in Brazil, 71 are black.
“We not only have a sad historical legacy of discrimination by skin colour, but also, when it comes to lethal violence, we have an open wound that keeps getting worse in (the) latest years,’’ the study stated.
Report says there is a significant variation in the murder rate among Brazilian states.
The three states with the sharpest rises in the murder rate of black citizens from 2005 to 2015 were all in the north-eastern region , Rio Grande do Norte (331.8 per cent), Sergipe (197.4 per cent) and Ceara (149.7 per cent).
On the other hand, the states with the sharpest falls in the murder rate of black people were Sao Paulo (50.4 per cent) and Rio de Janeiro (41 per cent), both in the south-eastern region.
According to the atlas, among cities, there is also a significant change: only 2 per cent of Brazilian cities, 111 out of over 5,000 municipalities, witnessed half of the murders that occurred in Brazil in 2015. (Xinhua/NAN)