MEXICO CITY – More than 17 million Mexicans were the victims of the approximately 22 million common crimes, such as muggings, burglaries, extortion, auto theft, fraud and battery, committed in the country in 2010, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography, or INEGI, said.

The figures come from the National Survey on Victimization and Perceptions of Public Safety, or Envipe, which was conducted from March 14 to April 22 with the support of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the INEGI said.

Crime cost Mexico about 210.8 billion pesos (some $16 billion), or about 1.53 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), last year.

The survey did not take into account the cost of serious crimes, such as homicides, organized crime, drug trafficking, firearms violations and people trafficking, because it “cannot be determined from a survey on victimization like the present,” the INEGI said.

The survey examined common crimes committed in 2010 against households and people 18 and older, and its goal was to reveal social perceptions of public safety and different authorities, the institute said.

About 10.5 million households, or 36 percent of the total, were victims of some type of crime, while 23.9 percent of Mexican adults were crime victims, the INEGI said.

The most common crimes were muggings in the streets or on public transportation, accounting for 23.2 percent of the total, followed by extortion, which accounted for 23.7 percent of crimes reported.

The majority of common crimes were committed in Aguascalientes, Sonora, the Federal District, Quintana Roo, Chihuahua, Yucatan and Mexico state, which surrounds the Federal District and forms part of the Mexico City metropolitan area, the survey indicated.

The survey found that the perception that there was crime at the state level soared from 54.2 percent in 2005 to 69.5 percent in 2010, while it surged from 40 percent in 2005 to 60.1 percent last year at the municipal level.

Respondents gave the highest rating – “very effective” – to the marines and the army, while the Federal Police was rated “slightly effective.”

Judges, prosecutors, judicial police and transit police were rated “not very effective” by respondents, the INEGI said.

A total of 79,179 households were surveyed, covering the municipal, state and national levels, the institute said. EFE