Urban income segregation and homicides: An analysis using Brazilian cities selected by the Salurbal project

This paper investigates the associations of income segregation with homicide mortality across 152 cities in Brazil. Despite GDP increases, an important proportion of the Brazilian population experiences poverty and extreme poverty. Segregation refers to the way that different groups are located in space based on their socioeconomic status, with groups defined based on education, unemployment, race, age, or income levels. As a measure of segregation, the dissimilarity index showed that overall, it would be necessary to relocate 29.7% of urban low-income families to make the spatial distribution of income homogeneous. For the ten most segregated cities, relocation of more than 37% of families would be necessary. Using negative binomial models, we found a positive association between segregation and homicides for Brazilian cities: one standard deviation higher segregation index was associated with a 50% higher homicide rate when we analyze all the socioeconomic context. Income segregation is potentially an important determinant of homicides, and should be considered in setting public policies. •The Dissimilarity index has a strong association with the number of homicides in large Brazilian cities.•The more segregated cities are, the greater the indicators of inequality and poverty.•The socioeconomic context matters for the reduction in the number of homicides.•Brazil is one of the most violent countries in the world, therefore reducing inequality and segregation is urgent.