Is Paraguay Safe? Crime Data and Regional Variation

What the official advisories say

Level 1 is not "no crime". It is the baseline advice given for most of Western Europe. What makes Paraguay's picture distinctive is the gap between the national level and the five departments, which is why we never quote one without the other.

The homicide data

Intentional homicide is the crime category most consistently recorded across countries, which is why comparisons use it and why we do too. The World Bank's series, derived from UNODC data, reports approximately 6.8 homicides per 100,000 people in Paraguay for 2023. A second published figure of 6.2 for the same year exists, which is itself a useful reminder that even the most standardised crime statistic has measurement variance.

For context on direction of travel rather than absolute position: Paraguay's rate peaked around 2016 and has been lower since. We are not going to convert that into a ranking claim without same-year, same-source figures for every country in the comparison — see our methodology.

Homicide by department: the map

The national figure averages very different places. The Interior Ministry's Observatorio de Seguridad y Convivencia Ciudadana publishes homicide victims for each department from National Police records. The most recent edition covers 2021. The map below uses those counts, divided by the population figures printed in the same table. Hover over or tap a department to see its numbers, or switch the map to the U.S. advisory levels and compare the two.

Three things stand out. Amambay is in a category of its own: 122 victims, a rate of roughly 70 per 100,000 and nearly ten times the national rate. The advisory and the police data broadly agree: Concepción and Canindeyú have the next-highest rates resting on more than a handful of cases, and all five Level 2 departments come in above the national rate. The only other departments above it are Alto Paraguay and Boquerón, in the Chaco, and their figures rest on four and six cases. Asunción and Central, where most foreign residents live, both come in below the national rate.

Compared with the U.S. and the region

Readers usually want to know how this compares with the places they know. Two maps answer that, comparing Paraguay with the United States and four of Latin America's largest countries. Each map compares like with like: countries with countries, and cities with cities. Both use 2021, the year of the department map above.

Country against country

This is the cleaner comparison. All six figures come from one series, the World Bank's UNODC-derived homicide rate, so they are counted the same way.

Paraguay's rate is well below Brazil's, Colombia's and Mexico's, at between roughly a quarter and two-fifths of theirs. It is close to the United States', and above Argentina's. On the most recent year each country has, Paraguay still sits in the same place relative to each of them.

City against city

This is the comparison most people actually ask for, and it is the weaker one. Each city's figure comes from its own official statistics: the National Police for Asunción, the NYPD, Rio de Janeiro's Instituto de Segurança Pública and Argentina's national crime statistics system for Buenos Aires. Each counts homicide a little differently, so treat differences of a point or two as noise.

On these figures, Asunción's homicide rate in 2021 was close to New York's: 6.7 against 5.8 per 100,000. It was a little over half of Rio de Janeiro's, and about twice Buenos Aires'. Using the 2022 census population for Asunción instead of the projection would raise its rate to about 7.6. That is still the same picture. Rio's figure counts homicídio doloso only. Brazilian statistics record deaths from police interventions separately, so the total number of violent deaths there is higher.

What we will not tell you

That Paraguay is the safest country in Latin America. It is a claim you will find repeated across this industry, and it is not one the available data supports as stated. Rankings depend entirely on the indicator, the year, and whose methodology you use. Paraguay compares well with several regional neighbours on homicide and carries a low travel advisory level; that is a defensible statement and it is enough.

We also will not tell you that Asunción is as safe as Europe. The homicide figures do not support it.

Is Paraguay safe? It depends on the region

The five Level 2 departments sit along or near the north-eastern border with Brazil. The stated concern is organised criminal activity — smuggling of weapons, drugs and goods — combined with limited police presence, rather than street crime aimed at visitors.

That has two practical implications. Someone living in Asunción or the Central Department is not in the areas the advisory singles out. And someone planning to buy rural land in Amambay or Canindeyú is making a different decision from someone renting an apartment in Asunción, and should research it as one.

What it does not mean is "only the north is dangerous". Crime patterns are not that tidy, and ordinary property crime exists in every Paraguayan city as it does in every city.

Practical, rather than statistical

• Petty theft and opportunistic crime are the everyday concern in urban Paraguay, as in most capitals. Normal precautions are what the advisory level describes.
• Border regions and remote rural areas warrant more research before a long stay or a land purchase.
• Check your own government's advisory too — the UK, Australian and Canadian services publish their own assessments and occasionally emphasise different areas.

Where safety fits in a relocation decision

It is usually the first question and rarely the deciding one. If safety is the whole basis of a move, the honest answer is that the data supports Paraguay being a low-advisory country with meaningful regional variation — not that it is a uniquely safe place. The residency process, the cost of living and the tax position are where the case for or against Paraguay actually gets made.

For how we handle any comparative claim on this site, see the methodology. For the capital specifically, see is Asunción safe.

If you would rather ask someone who lives here than read another statistic, book a call; our team is in Asunción.