The number of firearms in civilian hands and criminal organizations in Brazil is nine times as high as those of law enforcement departments, a religious group said in a report Friday.

The report, released by the Religion Studies Institute, said the civilians and criminals own 15.5 million weapons while the armed forces, police and other security institutions only have 1.740 million pieces.

The report, which gathered statistics from the municipalities, police, armed forces and the Brazilian Unified Health System, showed that about 45.6 percent of the arms in civilian hands are involved in crimes.

Some 40,000 people are killed annually in Brazil by firearms --more than in traffic accidents. With the level of deaths from gunfire stands at 21 per 100,000 people, Brazil is among the world's top 10 nations for gun deaths.

Source: Xinhua