Liberty Plaza in San Salvador
Based on homicides, November 2023 enters the list of the safest months in El Salvador in over 30 years. November ended with 9 homicides for a 0.30 daily rate; additionally, it achieved 23 days with zero homicides. Only July 2023 is ahead!
July 2023 is the safest month in El Salvador in over three decades; this month, the Salvadoran National Police reported 8 homicides for a 0.26 daily murder rate. July also achieved 23 days without homicides.
November 2023 is the 8th month during the Bukele administration that the daily homicide rate in El Salvador has been under 0.50; it is an impressive accomplishment considering that in 2019, the year Bukele took office, the daily murder rate was 6.57.
| Month | Days without homicides | Homicides | Daily Homicide Rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | July 2023 | 23 | 8 | 0.26 |
| 2 | November 2023 | 23 | 9 | 0.30 |
| 3 | April 2023 | 24 | 10 | 0.33 |
| 3 | June 2023 | 21 | 10 | 0.33 |
| 3 | September 2023 | 21 | 10 | 0.33 |
| 6 | January 2023 | 22 | 11 | 0.35 |
| 7 | March 2023 | 20 | 12 | 0.39 |
| 8 | December 2022 | 22 | 14 | 0.45 |
The safest months in El Salvador do not include the deaths of alleged gang members that have died in confrontations with the Salvadoran National Police or military security forces, 120 in 2022 and 40 thus far in 2023.
El Salvador’s security has drastically improved to new low levels since Nayib Bukele became president on June 1, 2019. For example, November 2023 is the 20th consecutive month that the daily homicide rate for the country has been under one.
Furthermore, under the current administration, El Salvador has achieved over 450 days with zero homicides. The days with zero homicides in El Salvador are remarkable, considering that before the Nayib Bukele Administration, El Salvador had experienced less than five days with zero homicides in 15 years.
| Month | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 9.29 | 3.90 | 3.58 | 2.65 | 0.35 |
| February | 7.36 | 4.14 | 3.86 | 2.71 | 0.50 |
| March | 7.68 | 2.26 | 3.61 | 5.35 | 0.39 |
| April | 10.87 | 4.90 | 3.50 | 0.77 | 0.33 |
| May | 9.26 | 2.13 | 3.77 | 0.52 | 0.55 |
| June | 7.70 | 2.40 | 2.93 | 0.87 | 0.33 |
| July | 5.00 | 3.74 | 2.94 | 0.55 | 0.26 |
| August | 4.19 | 4.06 | 1.84 | 0.61 | 0.52 |
| September | 4.93 | 4.37 | 2.03 | 0.63 | 0.33 |
| October | 4.00 | 5.10 | 2.65 | 0.61 | 0.65 |
| November | 4.60 | 3.30 | 4.13 | 0.63 | 0.30 |
| December | 4.13 | 3.71 | 3.06 | 0.45 | — |
2022 ended as the safest year in El Salvador in over 30 years. In 2022, 496 people were murdered, for a daily homicide rate of 1.4 or 7.8 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. 2023 is on pace to shatter the 2022 homicide stats.
Since the 90s, Salvadorans have grappled with persistent security concerns, navigating challenges that impact daily life. However, going into 2024, life in El Salvador is better since security has improved.
This year “2022” marks a milestone in the history of El Salvador, an unprecedented event, 2022 becomes the safest year. As the Security Cabinet of our President Nayib Bukele, we have a firm commitment to continue building a free and secure country.” Gustavo Villatoro, Minister of Justice and Public Security.
Reduction in homicides is one of the main achievements of the Nayib Bukele administration.
Salvadoran authorities credit the implementation of the Territorial Control Plan and the State of Exception launched on March 27, 2022, for the impressive homicide reduction. Both plans have allowed Salvadoran authorities to remove gang members from the streets.
The Territorial Control Plan launched in 2019 has seven phases: Preparation, opportunity, modernization, incursion, extraction, and integration. Phase seven is unknown at this time.
The Regime of Exception was approved last March by the Legislative Assembly at the request of Bukele. Since then, the number of homicides has dropped substantially.
During this exception regime, more than 71,000 people have been detained – suspected of being gang members or collaborators. The controversial security measure has been extended over 15 times.
National and international human rights organizations have criticized the Regime of Exception for human rights violations, arbitrary arrests, and the death of inmates in prisons.
However, surveys conducted during the State of Exception have shown that the majority of Salvadorans approve of this controversial measure.
