Brazil suffered 61,600 homicides in 2016, according to a new analysis of federal data released on Monday. And as violent crime continues to plague the country, Brazilian police forces are becoming increasingly lethal at an even faster rate.

Brazilian police killed 4,224 people in 2016 , 26 percent more than in 2015, according to the 11th Annual Brazilian Yearbook of Public Security. (The numbers were first reported by Globo News .) The number of total homicides, by contrast, rose 3.8 percent.

By comparison, there were roughly 17,000 homicides in the United States in 2016. Police shot and killed at least 963 people, according to The Washington Posts database on police shootings . The U.S. population outnumbers the Brazilian population by about 110 million people.

More than one-fifth of Brazils 2016 police killings occurred in the state of Rio de Janeiro, which hosted the Summer Olympics last year. Police in the state killed 925 people 43 percent more than in 2015, outpacing the states 24 percent jump in overall homicides.

By raw numbers, the various forces that police Rio state including civil, military and pacification police are Brazils deadliest, and will likely kill even more people in 2017. By the end of August, they had killed at least 712 people, according to The Wall Street Journal , putting them on pace for more than 1,000 killings by years end.

Police killings in the city of Rio de Janeiro, in particular, drew international attention before the Olympics and again last week, when an officer shot and killed a 67-year-old Spanish tourist in Rocinha, the largest of the citys informal favela communities.

Two days later, Madonna found herself at the center of the issue when she posted a photo on Instagram documenting her visit to the Rio cultural center Casa Amarela in Morro da Providncia favela. Shes posing between two rifle-bearing officers from the favelas Police Pacification Unit, and shes wearing military camouflage.