Is Juazeiro do Norte safe?

Q: Is Juazeiro do Norte safe?

Juazeiro do Norte scores 38 out of 100 (low safety) on World Safety Map, ranked 5913 of 6168 cities worldwide. The score combines the homicide rate, nearby conflict deaths, income equality and human development from published data (UNODC, UCDP, World Bank, UNDP).

Brazil · South America · data updated 2026-09-04

37.6Low · rank 5913 / 6,168
safer than 4% of ranked cities

Juazeiro do Norte is a city in Brazil, home to about 235k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 5,913 of 6,168, with a safety score of 37.6 out of 100, placing it clearly below the global midpoint.

US 2/4 Exercise increased caution UK FCDO advises against all but essential travel to parts of this country

Emergency Ambulance 192 · Fire 193 · Police 190 or 911

UK FCDO advises against all but essential travel to parts of this country5 named areas - see "areas to avoid" below.
Very high homicide rate27.1 homicides per 100,000 per year (city-measured), about 10× the global city median.
High income inequalityGini 50.3 puts Brazil in the most unequal quarter of countries - the strongest structural predictor of city violence in this dataset (street crime and robbery tend to track it).

Deadliest recorded locations nearby

Crato5 deaths · 3 events
the Triângulo neighborhood, in Juazeiro do Norte, Ceará5 deaths · 1 event

UCDP-recorded organized-violence deaths within 100 km of Juazeiro do Norte, 2022-2024, at the locations the source itself names. Conflict deaths, not street crime.

Areas the UK FCDO advises against visiting country

Amazonas State
along the Amazonas (Amazon) River and its tributaries west of the town of Codajás and east of the town of Belém do Solimões in Amazonas State
along any part of the Itaquaí River in Amazonas State
along any part of the Japurá River or its tributaries in Amazonas State
along the Rio Negro (Black River) and its tributaries north or west of the town of Barcelos in Amazonas State

Named in the official UK travel advice for Brazil (in full or in part - the advisory lists exact boundaries and exceptions). These are country-level warnings and may be far from Juazeiro do Norte.

How safe is Juazeiro do Norte really?

The most direct evidence is measured in the city itself: Juazeiro do Norte recorded 27 homicides per 100,000 residents in 2024 - roughly 10 times the global city median. That matters because income inequality is the strongest structural predictor of city violence in this dataset, and Brazil's Gini of 50.3 puts it in the most unequal quarter of countries - conditions under which street crime and robbery tend to be a real concern.

Juazeiro do Norte also carries some conflict exposure: UCDP recorded 27 deaths from organized violence within 100 km across 21 events in 2022-2024 - a factor crime statistics alone would miss. The deadliest recorded locations in that radius were Crato (5 deaths), the Triângulo neighborhood, in Juazeiro do Norte, Ceará (5 deaths).

What the travel advisories say

The US State Department currently rates Brazil at level 2 of 4 - "Exercise increased caution" (updated 2025-05-28). The UK Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel to parts of this country, naming 5 specific areas - listed above with the official advisory linked for exact boundaries and exceptions. Both advisories are country-level: no official source publishes verified neighborhood-level crime guidance for individual cities, which is why this page reports named areas only where an official source names them.

What to watch out for in Brazil

Terrorism in Brazil · Protests and civil unrest · Favelas · Theft and robbery · Criminal Kidnapping · Scams · Sexual assault and drink spiking · Methanol poisoning · Child sexual abuse · Parental child abduction · Carjacking · Organised crime and militias · Personal ID · Illegal drugs and trafficking scams · +12 more

Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Brazil — country-level, not specific to Juazeiro do Norte. Read what each one says →

The numbers

Homicide rate: 27 /100kcity-measured, 2024 · ~10× the global city median
Conflict deaths: 27within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
Income inequality: Gini 50.3country, 2024
Human development: HDI 0.786country, 2023
Income: $22,670/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
Population: 235kurban centre · 7,335/km²

Country context for travelers

Road deaths: 16.0 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
Political stability: 57/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
Rule of law: 49/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
Corruption perceptions: 35/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
Natural-hazard risk: 4.7/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Women, Peace & Security: 0.63Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
Air quality: 13.4 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
Safely managed drinking water: 89%of the population, 2024 · WHO/UNICEF JMP
Healthcare capacity: 2.4 doctors /1k2.5 hospital beds per 1,000
Malaria: 4 /1k at riskWHO, 2024 · listed for endemic countries only

Natural hazards in Brazil

Flood: 7.7/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Drought: 4.5/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier

Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Brazil as a whole, not Juazeiro do Norte specifically.

Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Brazil (as of 2025).

All country-level figures shared by every city in Brazil; none of them affect the safety score.

How the score works

Low homicide40%14

Peace25%64

Equality25%33

Development10%79

One fixed, calibrated mix for every city: 40% homicide · 25% peace · 25% equality · 10% HDI. Homicide and conflict deaths are measured outcomes; income inequality carries the structural share because it predicts real city violence far better than national income (which is shown above but scored at zero). Each factor maps to 0-100 against fixed anchors, missing data drops out and is never estimated, and cities with data behind less than half the weighting get “no data” instead of a score. For Juazeiro do Norte that gives 37.6/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →

Juazeiro do Norte compared with Fortaleza

The nearest ranked city of comparable size. Green favours Juazeiro do Norte, red favours Fortaleza.
Measure	Juazeiro do Norte	Fortaleza	Difference
Safety score	37.6	29.8	+7.7 — better for Juazeiro do Norte
Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate	27 /100k	32 /100k	−5.3 /100k — better for Juazeiro do Norte
Conflict deaths within 100 km	27	305	−278 — better for Juazeiro do Norte

Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Both cities are in Brazil, so they share every country-level figure and only the city-level ones are listed. Full report for Fortaleza →

Nearby cities

See Juazeiro do Norte on the interactive map → · Safest cities in South America → · Full travel briefings →