Brazil continues to rank first among countries that kill the most transgender and travesti people in the world, with 80 murders recorded in 2025. The data comes from the latest edition of the dossier produced by the National Association of Travestis and Transexuals (Antra), released this Monday (26).
The result represents a drop of about 34% compared to the previous year, which recorded 122 such crimes, but does not remove the country from the top of the ranking, a position it has held for nearly 18 years.
For Antra’s president, Bruna Benevides, the data is the result of an entire system that normalizes oppression against trans people.
“Not isolated deaths, they reveal a population exposed to extreme violence from a very early age, crossed by social exclusion, racism, institutional abandonment, and continuous psychological suffering.”
Violence Statistics
The data for the dossier was collected from daily monitoring of news, direct complaints made to trans organizations, and public records. For Benevides, this situation already evidences violence: if civil society does not do this work, the deaths simply do not exist for the State.
In 2025, Ceará and Minas Gerais were the states with the highest number of murders, with eight each. In total, violence remains concentrated in the Northeast Region, which recorded 38 murders, followed by the Southeast with 17, the Midwest with 12, the North with seven, and the South with six.
Antra’s survey, which tallied the period from 2017 to 2025, showed the state of São Paulo as the deadliest, recording 155 deaths. The study revealed that the majority of victims are travestis and trans women, predominantly young, with the highest incidence in the 18-35 age group, and Black and Brown people being the main targets.
The dossier also points out that, although murders have decreased, there was an increase in attempted homicides, meaning that the 34% drop compared to 2024 does not actually translate to a regression in violence.
In the analysis in the dossier, Antra says this scenario is explained by a set of factors such as underreporting, distrust in security and justice institutions, retraction of media coverage, and absence of specific public policies to combat transfobia – a crime of prejudice, discrimination, and hostility directed at transgender people.
Public Policies
In addition to the diagnosis, the dossier presents various recommendations directed to public authorities, the justice system, public security, and human rights institutions, seeking dialogue and concrete proposals to break the logic of impunity and scarcity that marks the reality of trans people in Brazil.
Bruna Benevides, also the author of the dossier, believes that Antra’s report “embarrasses the State,” informs society, and prevents silence.
“It is necessary to recognize that women’s protection policies need to be accessible and available to trans women, for example. Think about making what exists accessible and implementing what has not yet been properly achieved. There is a lot of production, including data; what is lacking is action from decision-makers,” she added.
The ninth edition of the Dossier: Murders and Violence Against Brazilian Travestis and Transexuals will be presented at a ceremony in the auditorium of the Ministry of Human Rights, with official delivery to representatives of the federal government.
Violent Deaths
The data released this Monday by Antra reinforces the scenario evidenced on the 18th by the Gay Group of Bahia (GGB), in the Observatory of Violent Deaths of LGBT+ in Brazil, updated annually.
The data, which includes besides the trans population, gay, lesbian, and bisexual people, among others, show that in 2025, 257 violent deaths were documented: 204 homicides, 20 suicides, 17 latrocínios (robbery followed by death), and 16 cases of other causes, such as hit-and-runs and drownings.
Compared to 2024, when 291 cases were documented, there was a reduction of 11.7%. But it still means a death every 34 hours in Brazil.
Also according to the GGB, Brazil remained last year as the country with the highest number of homicides and suicides of LGBT+ people worldwide, followed by Mexico with 40, and the United States with 10.
Source: brasil247.com