The homicide rate in Mexico has dropped slightly from 24 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2011 to an estimated 22 per 100,000 in 2012, the government said Wednesday. But the National Statistics and Geography Institute said in a statement that some of Mexico's most violent states have much higher homicide rates. The northern border state of Chihuahua and the southern Pacific coast state of Guerrero both had 77 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants last year. The institute said that there were 26,037 homicides in 2012, in a country whose population is now estimated at 117.3 million. By comparison, Honduras had a 2011 rate of 91.6 per 100,000. Brazil's 2011 rate was about 21.8, according to U.N. estimates.
