Chile is regarded as one of the safest countries in South America, and yet the sense of security in the country has shifted noticeably in recent years. If you are planning a move, you will want to know whether that shows up in the hard numbers. The official answer for 2026 has been available since September: in the first half of the year Chile counted fewer homicide victims than at any time since 2021, and the number is falling for the fourth year in a row. Behind the decline, though, lies a shift that matters to newcomers.
The figures come from the Informe Nacional de Víctimas de Homicidios Consumados, Primer Semestre 2026. It is published by the Centro para la Prevención de Homicidios y Delitos Violentos, an office of the Subsecretaría de Prevención del Delito within the Ministry of Public Security. The report merges the records of the police, the public prosecutor's office and other authorities into a single victim count validated by the prosecutors. It counts people, not police files, and only completed killings. Unless stated otherwise, every 2026 figure in this article comes from this report.
The key figures for the first half of 2026
From January to June 2026, Chile counted 472 victims of completed homicides. That is 2.3 victims per 100,000 inhabitants for the half-year. In the first half of 2025 there were 513 victims and a rate of 2.6. That makes 41 fewer deaths, and the rate fell by 11.5%.
The report sets the first halves since 2018 side by side. The peak came in 2022 with 660 victims, and the figure has fallen every year since: 633 in 2023, 586 in 2024, 513 in 2025 and now 472. Against 2022, the rate has dropped by just under a third. Before the pandemic it was lower still, though: in 2018 and 2019 Chile counted 425 and 415 victims in the first half of the year.
By month:
Every single month was below the average for the same month in 2018 to 2025, most clearly January and June.
Why this figure can differ from police reports
If you see other numbers in the Chilean media, check the source. The report spells out its approach: it counts victims, not cases. Police statistics are based on investigation files, and a file can be reclassified during criminal proceedings or cover several victims. The centre therefore reconciles the records across the authorities, removes double counts and has the result checked by the public prosecutor's office, with a further cross-check against the civil registry and the prison service. It calculates the rates using the official population projections of the national statistics office, INE. This figure is therefore the official reference, even though it appears later than the running police reports.
For the full year 2025, the annual report for 2025 records 1,091 victims, a rate of 5.4 per 100,000 inhabitants. In 2024 there were 1,209. If the second half of 2026 runs much like the first, Chile will end 2026 below the previous year's figure.
Where the violence happens
Almost two thirds of all victims, 65.5%, died in three regions: the Región Metropolitana around Santiago (218), Valparaíso (53) and Biobío (38). All three reported fewer victims than the year before.
As a rate, the picture looks different. Six regions were above the national average of 2.3: Tarapacá (3.4), Arica y Parinacota (3.0), Coquimbo (2.7), the Región Metropolitana and Valparaíso (2.6 each) and O'Higgins (2.4). Eleven of the sixteen regions reported a decline. The rate rose sharply, by contrast, in Tarapacá (from 1.9 to 3.4), Coquimbo (from 1.9 to 2.7) and O'Higgins (from 1.8 to 2.4), and slightly in Maule and Ñuble.
For newcomers heading south, the values are low: Los Lagos stood at 1.5, Los Ríos at 1.9, La Araucanía at 1.5, Aysén and Atacama at 0.9 each, Magallanes at 1.1.
The municipalities where newcomers often live
At the end, the report lists every municipality (comuna) with at least one victim in the first half of the year. Municipalities that are not on the list had none in that period. Some examples:
Greater Santiago, east: Las Condes 2, Lo Barnechea 1, Ñuñoa 1. Providencia and Vitacura are not on the list, so they had no victim in the first half of the year.
Greater Santiago, hotspots: the municipality of Santiago (the centre) and Puente Alto with 17 each, La Pintana with 15, Maipú and Recoleta with 13 each.
Valparaíso coast: Viña del Mar 6, Valparaíso 14, Quilpué 3, Concón not on the list.
Norte Chico: La Serena and Coquimbo with 10 each.
Lake District and the south: Puerto Varas 1, Puerto Montt 2, Valdivia 5, Osorno 4, Temuco 9. Frutillar and Pucón are not on the list.
These numbers are small, and a single case changes the picture of a municipality at once. But they show a clear pattern: the municipalities in the east of Santiago and the towns of the Lake District, where many foreigners live, have few or no killings, while the violence is concentrated in some municipalities in the south and west of the capital and in the centre.
The shift behind the decline
The most interesting part of the report concerns the circumstances of the killings. The statistics assign each victim to a context, based on the United Nations classification.
In the first half of 2026, for the first time in years, the context "crime and organised groups" came out on top, with 41.3% of all victims. The number rose from 165 to 195. Killings in the personal sphere, meaning disputes, partners and family, fell from 202 to 185 and make up 39.2%. The report explicitly calls this a break with the pattern of 2022 to 2025, when the personal sphere dominated.
Within the crime category, one figure stands out: the share of victims attacked by strangers for no apparent reason rose from 16.4% to 22.2%. That is the highest value in the entire series since 2018. In addition, 7.8% of the victims were perpetrators who died while committing their own crime.
The means used has shifted too. 48.9% of the victims were killed with firearms, an increase of 2.9 percentage points after three years of a falling share. 36% died from stabbing or cutting weapons. 62.9% of the killings took place in the street, 21.8% in homes.
As for the victims themselves: 90% were men, and just under two thirds were between 18 and 39 years old. A little over half (50.4%) had a criminal record. 82 victims, or 17.4%, held a foreign nationality, up from 13.3% the year before. Whether any of them were newcomers from Europe or North America cannot be read from the report's key figures.
For your own assessment, this means: the total is falling, but the share of killings that are linked to crime and firearms, and that can hit strangers, has risen. A lower level is not the same as an unchanged risk profile.
What foreign ministries advise
The statistics are one thing; how governments abroad assess the country is another. The UK Foreign Office (FCDO), in advice last updated on 9 October 2026, says that pickpocketing, mugging and thefts from vehicles are very common throughout Chile, including inside airports, hotels and bus stations and at viewpoints and petrol stations. Muggings happen frequently, especially in Santiago and Valparaíso, and increasingly with guns and knives, sometimes in daylight and in plain sight of others. The FCDO describes distraction thefts, deliberately punctured tyres on hire cars, robberies at traffic lights and at the gates of private homes, and carjackings in Santiago, especially in affluent areas. It warns of spiked drinks in bars and nightclubs, particularly in the Suecia and Bellavista areas of Santiago, and of unlicensed taxi drivers at Santiago airport. If you are robbed, it advises handing over cash and valuables without resistance.
For the south, the FCDO reports ongoing civil unrest in the Araucanía Region, especially around Temuco, with attacks by groups of demonstrators against people and property, and a state of emergency in the provinces of Biobío, Arauco, Cautín and Malleco, where the military is assisting the police. It adds that individuals or groups claiming to represent indigenous communities have carried out attacks in the Araucanía, Biobío and Los Ríos regions, aimed primarily at state actors and businesses. It also warns of minefields, mostly near the borders with Peru and Bolivia in the far north and with Argentina in the far south, and advises sticking to clearly marked roads.
Your own government publishes its own advice, for example the UK's GOV.UK travel advice for Chile or Canada's travel advice, and likewise the US State Department and Australia's Smartraveller. Read yours before you move, because each ministry words things differently and updates at a different time.
What stands out is the advice on the south: the homicide rates in Los Lagos and Los Ríos are low, yet the FCDO names Los Ríos among the regions with attacks. The two statements do not contradict each other. The advice describes mainly attacks on state bodies and businesses, unrest and protests, in other words risks that barely show up in homicide statistics.
What the figures mean for your daily life
By regional standards, Chile remains a country with a low homicide rate, and the figures have been moving in the right direction since 2022. More important for your daily life is the distribution: the municipalities in the east of Santiago and in the Lake District, popular with newcomers, had few or no killings in the first half of the year.
If you are moving to Santiago: choosing the municipality is your most important safety decision. The differences between the municipalities in the east and some in the south and west of the city are large. In daily life, theft, robbery and car break-ins are what you need to watch out for, and that is exactly what the foreign ministries' advice targets. More on safety beyond crime, from earthquakes to tsunamis, is in our overview of safety in Chile.
If you want to go south: the Lake District around Puerto Varas shows low figures. If you are moving to the countryside, also look closely at the situation in the Araucanía and neighbouring areas, where the FCDO reports ongoing unrest and attacks on state bodies and businesses. What a move to Chile costs and which visas exist is explained in our article on moving to Chile.
If you are comparing countries: check whether you are looking at half-year or annual rates. The 2.3 per 100,000 applies to six months. How Chile compares directly with its neighbour is shown in the article Uruguay or Chile, and an official analysis from Central America in our look at the homicide figures in Costa Rica. The key facts on tax and residence are on the Chile country page.
When the next figures are due
The Centro para la Prevención de Homicidios publishes one report per half-year and one annual report. The annual report for 2025 went online in March 2026, the half-year report for 2026 in September. On that pattern, the complete figures for 2026 can be expected in spring 2027. The centre's website also offers the database of all victims since 2018 for download, for anyone who wants to run the numbers themselves.