2011 drug violence kills nearly 13,000, new figures show January 11, 2012 -- Updated 1831 GMT (0231 HKT) The government released new data on Wednesday The new figures cover the first three quarters of 2011 Since December 2006, more than 47,000 people have been killed by drug violence (CNN) -- Nearly 13,000 people were killed in Mexico by suspected drug violence in the first three quarters of 2011, the country's federal attorney general's office said Wednesday. The figure was the first official tally given by the government for 2011. The exact number -- 12,903 -- corresponds to the deaths reported by state authorities to the federal government that they believe were the result of inter-cartel rivalry. The figure covers the period from January 2011 to September 2011 and is not broken down into categories such as how many were civilians, how many were innocent bystanders, or how many were the result of shootouts with authorities. The attorney general's office portrayed the numbers as a sign that the growth rate of the killings that have plagued the country has decreased. The growth rate of killings between September 2010 to September 2011 was 11%, compared with 70% between 2009 and 2010, the agency said. The killings were also clearly concentrated in certain parts of the country, the agency said. Some 70% of the killings reported so far for 2011 happened in just eight states, the agency said. Adding the new statistics, from the beginning of President Felipe Calderon's term in December 2006 to September 2011, at least 47,515 people have been killed in drug-related violence.