Over 115 gun deaths a day in Brazil

Police and forensic workers carry the body of a man found dead in the Sao Carlos slum complex in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this month. Photo / AP

More than 42,000 people were shot dead in Brazil in one year, according to figures that show the highest level of gun killings in 35 years.

The study by the UN's Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) found more than 115 people were shot dead every day in 2012, with the highest level of fatalities among young people at 59 per cent.

The results pushed the rate of gun deaths to almost 22 per 100,000 inhabitants - the second-highest figure recorded by the Map of Violence report.

But the number of murders by firearm rose to 20.7 per 100,000, the highest level since 1980.

"In this cultural environment that validates violent practices, the immense arsenal of firearms existing in the country gives Brazil murder rates equivalent or higher than countries living in a situation of war or armed civil conflict," said Salete Valesan, director of the Latin American Social Sciences Institute in Brazil.

From 1980 to 2012, the number of gun killings increased by almost 400 per cent but the increase in shootings among young people was 460 per cent.

"In other words, more young people die from firearms despite the initial reduction caused by the approval of the disarmament statute," Valesan said. "The gravity becomes even greater when one observes that, in the majority, the victims of this increase are young black men."

The greatest increase in shootings was in the north with a rise of 135 per cent. The state with the highest rate of gun deaths was Alagoas, where there were 55 deaths per 100,000.