A survey commissioned by the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (FIESP) and released on Tuesday (01/09) shows that fear of violence is affecting both the daily routines and household budgets of Brazilian families: 77% of respondents said insecurity generates costs for their households. Conducted by telephone, the survey was carried out by PoderData between late July and early August and interviewed 2,411 people across 658 municipalities. The margin of error is plus or minus two percentage points.
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Financial Cost
Overall, seven out of ten Brazilians incurred some financial cost related to insecurity over the past 12 months. The reasons vary: 35% cited scams or fraud, 13% said they spent money on security measures for their property, such as their homes or vehicles, and 12% reported spending more on transportation to avoid potential risks. Another 14% said they had faced no additional costs related to insecurity, while 8% did not know or were unable to answer.
Impact on the Budget
The survey also details how these security-related expenses affect household budgets. Among respondents, 35% said they had to divert money from basic expenses, such as food, while 20% redirected funds that would otherwise have been spent on healthcare, education, or family care. Another 15% reduced spending on leisure activities or home improvements, while 14% said insecurity reduced their ability to save money. A further 4% reported incurring additional expenses due to insecurity without having to compromise other areas of their household budget.
Professional Decisions
Beyond concerns over property and personal safety, fear of violence is also influencing professional decisions. According to Fiesp, 26% of respondents said they had declined a job opportunity because of concerns about crime, while 23% avoided working or traveling at certain times of the day due to security risks. In addition, 18% reported losing clients, sales, or other business opportunities as a consequence of insecurity.
Changes in Consumption
Insecurity is also changing the way Brazilians consume goods and services. According to the Fiesp survey, 38% of respondents said they had stopped purchasing or using certain products or services because of concerns about violence. Another 24% reported that they no longer frequent certain shops or restaurants due to security concerns, demonstrating how perceptions of crime can influence consumer behavior and economic activity.
Sense of Insecurity
These figures reflect the growing sense of insecurity reported by Brazilians. A Datafolha survey released late last year found that public security had become the country’s main problem for 16% of respondents. The issue ranked behind healthcare, identified as Brazil’s biggest problem by 20% of the population, but ahead of the economy, cited by 11%. This does not necessarily mean that Brazil has become more violent; homicide rates, for example, reached a new historical low last year. According to the Brazilian Public Security Forum’s yearbook, a growing concern is the expansion of property crimes, particularly scams and fraud, including offenses committed through digital channels, which have increased sharply in recent years. Authorities recorded 2.2 million such incidents last year, equivalent to 1,059 cases per 100,000 inhabitants or approximately 258 cases per hour. This represents a 429% increase compared with the 426,000 cases recorded in 2018, the first year of the historical series, and a 3.1% increase compared with 2023.
Analysis:
The FIESP survey demonstrates that insecurity in Brazil should be understood not only as a public security issue but also as an economic and social burden on households. The fact that 77% of respondents report some costs associated with insecurity, with fraud and scams representing the largest category, indicates that crime is directly affecting household financial decisions. More concerning is the extent to which these costs compete with essential expenditures: 35% of respondents had to redirect money from basic needs, while others reduced spending on healthcare, education, leisure, or savings. This suggests that insecurity generates a secondary economic effect by reducing household welfare even when individuals are not directly victimized by violent crime. The impact also extends beyond household finances, influencing mobility, employment, consumption, and local economic activity.
From a public security perspective, this is important because the consequences of crime are therefore not limited to the number of recorded incidents; fear itself can alter behavior and impose substantial indirect costs on communities.
Sources: A Folha de SP.
