The crime rate in Germany for 2022 was 6,762 crimes per 100,000 people, making it the first time in seven years in which the crime rate rose compared to the year before. Between 2000 and 2004 the crime rate in Germany increased from 7,625 to 8,037, before declining to 7,253 by 2010. The years between 2010 and 2015 saw an increase in the crime rate, but after 2015, the recent trend of declining crime started, leading to the generally low figures seen in the most recent years. While the uptick in the crime rate in 2022 marks a negative turn compared with these years, the overall crime rate is still much lower on average than in previous decades.

Crime rate highest in cities Germany’s sixteen states are made up of thirteen federal states, and three city states; Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen. These three city states had the highest regional crime rates in Germany, due to only covering urban areas which usually have higher crime rates than rural areas. The large federal state of Bavaria, in the southeast of Germany, had the lowest crime rate in the country at 4,698 crimes per 100,000 people in 2020. Baden-Württemberg, home to the black forest and the city of Stuttgart had the second-lowest crime rate per 100 thousand people in this year, at 4,944.

Historical chart and dataset showing Germany crime rate per 100K population by year from 1990 to 2021.

In 2023, German police registered around 214,100 cases of violent crime, which was a large increase compared with the year before. During the specified period, figures peaked in 2007. Violent crimes are characterized by the use of force or even weapons on a victim.

The city states of Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen were the states with the three highest crime rates in Germany in 2020, while the federal state of Bavaria had the lowest. Urban areas generally have higher crime rates than rural ones, making it difficult to compare Germany's three city states with the much larger federal states, which typically cover quite large areas. The federal state with the highest crime rate was Saxony-Anhalt at 7996 crimes per 100 thousand people, compared with the German average of 6209.

Historical chart and dataset showing Germany murder/homicide rate per 100K population by year from 1990 to 2021.

Since 2016, the number of crimes per 100,000 inhabitants has been on a downward trend and was at its lowest in 2021, although this was likely due to the lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, crime rates have risen again. In 2023, the police recorded roughly ***** criminal offenses per 100,000 inhabitants. Youth criminal suspects Since the number of crimes is increasing, so is the number of suspects. Concerningly, the number of juvenile suspects has seen a rather significant increase and is currently at its ************ since 2016. Suspects who are considered in the juvenile category are aged 14 to 17 years old. In Germany, children under the age of 14 cannot be prosecuted and if they commit a crime, then social services usually step in to try and help. In general, punishments for those convicted are much more lenient as it is often considered that due to their age, they may not have been aware of the repercussions of their actions. For example, regardless of the crime committed, no child under the age of 18 can be tried as an adult. In contrast, in England and Wales, there were around ***** people aged between 15 and 20 in prison. Crimes solving rate With a higher crime rate, it is also important to consider how many crimes are solved. Once a crime is solved, the hope is that the victim can get some type of closure and answers, and also that the perpetrator faces justice for the crimes they committed. In 2023, the police solved around **** million crimes in Germany and for the past three years, there has been a substantial increase in the number of crimes solved. Some cases are, of course, easier to solve than others. Crimes of arson and other fire-hazard-related crimes had a comparably low clearance rate at around ** percent. In contrast, drug-related offenses were much more frequently solved. Even though 2023 saw the lowest clearance rate in 20 years, it was still at ** percent.

Germany - Population reporting occurrence of crime, violence or vandalism in their area was 10.70% in December of 2023, according to the EUROSTAT. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Germany - Population reporting occurrence of crime, violence or vandalism in their area - last updated from the EUROSTAT on July of 2025. Historically, Germany - Population reporting occurrence of crime, violence or vandalism in their area reached a record high of 14.20% in December of 2017 and a record low of 8.20% in December of 2020.

The number of crimes recorded in Germany in 2023 was 5.94 million, approximately 310,000 more crimes than in the previous year. From 2000 onwards, the number of crimes in Germany has fluctuated, peaking in 2004 at 6.63 million, and reaching it's lowest levels in the most recent year.

Panel data on the crime rate of burglary and the clearance rate of the police at the regional level in Germany from 2013 to 2017. Data was retrieved from the annual crime report (PKS) of the German Federal Police (BKA).

In 2023, there were 214 murders in Germany, and 490 attempted murders resulting in 704 murder cases in that year, compared with 662 cases in the previous year. Between 2000 and 2012, there was a net decrease of 300 murder cases a year in Germany, but in recent years that trend has been reversed, with 2018 showing the largest year-on-year increase in this time period.

The number of criminal offenses recorded in Germany fluctuated during the specified period. In 2023, around 5.94 million crimes were registered, compared to 6.33 million in 2015. The data are based on police criminal statistics, which are compiled by the Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt). The statistics include all criminal offenses known to the police, as well as attempts to commit a crime. Not included are minor breaches of the law, crimes against the state and traffic offenses.

Notes for publication The table presented is based on the data from the Police Crime Statistics (PKS) of the State of Schleswig-Holstein. These are the results of the police investigation before handing them over to the public prosecutor's office or the court. The PKS contains the illegal offences that have become known to the police, including the attempts threatened with punishment, the number of suspects identified and a number of other information on cases, victims or suspects. The data refer to a closed reporting year and are published annually for the previous calendar year. ##Table-specific information: Table 61 (Non-German suspects (according to the reason for the stay in Germany). This dataset contains figures on non-German suspects according to the reason for their stay in Schleswig-Holstein, which were recorded in the corresponding reporting year. ##Structure of the table The following columns are included: - Key number of the offence - Crime key number (key of the respective offences or sum key) - Offence - plain text of the offence or the sum key - Gender - Division into male and female and total - Total number of suspects - Total number of suspects - Non-German suspects - Divided into number of non-German suspects, percentage of total suspects and number of authorised/not authorised stays - Reason for authorised stay - Suspects after authorised stay - The preceding number in brackets (1) – (12) denotes the column numbering. Character set: Western European (Windows – 1252/WinLatin 1)

In 2023, German police recorded around 1.97 million cases of theft crime in the country. These included 77,819 cases of burglary with housebreaking. Theft crimes were among the most reported in Germany.

Context

Berlin is a special city, multicultural city. And the crime image is special there.

Content

For example there are no bloody drug wars, ghetto or neighborhoods where police afraid to get. Crimes like "deprivation of liberty" and "treat" are in one column. But "larceny" - separated to 4 categories: theft of bikes, of auto, from auto (sic!) and rest kind of theft. Particular column for "Damage to property due graffiti" (Sach-beschädigung durch Graffiti (sic!). Numbers of crimes are connected with every single neighborhood of Berlin's part. Statistics covering period of 2012 - 2019 years.

Acknowledgements

Special thanks for assistance in translation to Alexei Klaus, Germany.

Inspiration

Questions to community: 1) what part of Berlin is most dangerous? 2) what crimes are growing? 3) what crimes are going low? 4) would be great to build Folium based heatmap.

The Study’s Subject: The German Statistical Office of the German Empire compiled a comparative representation of different countrie’s crime statistics. In this context the statistical office was faced with the problem of diverging methodologies and classifications of the countrie’s crime statistics data collections. After World War 1 the “International Statistic Institute (ISI)” and the “International Penal Law and Prison Commission” (IPPC) ) resumed their research activities in the fields of criminal statistics in international comparison. In this context the Statistical Office of the German Empire carried out an investigation of 33 european and non-european countries with the aim to work out a comparative compilation of various criminalstatistical classifications. Is was established that at the time of preparation a comparison of different classifications a comparable international data compilation could not be gathered due to significant differences between the classifications. Finally from the 33 countries it could be compiled time series on criminal statisics only for a small selection of countries. The reason for this situation was the lack of data material for many countries. Therefore, the development of crime could be presented in form of time series for the following countries: - Austria- England and Wales- France- German Empire- Sweden- Canada- Japan In terms of the crime statistical objective data on lawsuit processes (for example the number of criminal proceedings) has not been incorporated. Furthermore, no data on the military criminal justice are included in the data compilation. The following information, which was available in the statistics, has been taken from the statistics for the data compilation: Information on the persons, who has been accused or convicted: Number of persons totally, by gender, teenagers or adults.Information on the offences the persons were accused for: accused or convicted by groups of offences or single selected offences.The sentences imposed as results of lawsuit processes are not included in this data compilation. Data tables in HISTAT (Thema: Kriminaltiät): A. Österreich (Austria) A.1 Rechtskräftig Verurteilte nach Geschlecht (Legally convicted by sex)A.2 Rechtskräftig Verurteilte wegen Verbrechen nach ausgewählten Deliktarten (Legally convicted of crimes by selected types of offences)A.3 Rechtskräftig Verurteilte wegen Verbrechen und Übertretungen zusammen nach ausgewählten Deliktarten (Legally convicted of crimes and violations by selected types of offences)A.4 Verurteilte auf 100.000 Strafmündige nach ausgewählten Deliktarten (Kriminalitätsziffern) (Convicted per 100.000 of population of the age of criminal responsibility by selected offences (crime rate)) B. England und Wales (England and Wales)B.1 Angeklagte wegen schwerer Vergehen vor Schwurgerichten und Vierteljahressitzungen nach Deliktarten (Accuesed of heavy offences at the jury court (Assizes) and at the „Quarter Sessions“ by types of offences)B.2 Angeklagte wegen schwerer und leichter Vergehen vor allen Gerichten insgesamt und vor den Gerichten für summarische Rechtsprechung (Accused of heavy offences and of petty offences at all types of courts and at courts of summary jurisdiction)B.3 Angeklagte und Verurteilte nach Geschlecht C. Frankreich (France) C.1 Verhandlungen vor Schwurgerichten (Hearings at the jury courts)C.1.1 Angeklagte vor Schwurgerichte nach Geschlecht (Accused at jury courts by gender)C.1.2 Anzahl der Verurteilten durch Schwurgerichte (Number of convicted by the jury court)C.1.3 Erhobene Anklagen nach Deliktart vor Schwurgerichten (Prosecutions by types of offences at the jury court) C.2 Verhandlungen vor Strafgerichten (Hearings at the tribunal court)C.2.1 Angeklagte vor und Verurteilte der Strafgerichte insgesamt (Accused and convicted of tribunal courts, totaly)C.2.2 Anklagen vor Strafgerichte nach Deliktarten (Prosecutions at the tribunal court by types of offences) D. Deutsches Reich (German Empire) D.1 Abgeurteilte Personen und verurteilte Personen nach Geschlecht, Jugendliche und Vorbestrafte (1882-1927) (Persons judged and convicted persons by sex)D.2 Verurteilte Personen nach Deliktgruppen (1882-1927) (Convicted Persons by types of offences)D.3 Kriminalitätsziffern der verurteilten Personen - auf 100.000 der strafm. Bevölkerung (1882-1927) (Crime rate of convicted Persons – per 100.000 of population of the age of criminal responsibility)D.4 Kriminalitätsziffern der verurteilten Personen nach Deliktgruppe - auf 100.000 der strafm. Bevölkerung (1882-1927) (Crime Rate of convicted Persons by type of offence – per 100.000 of population of the age of criminal responsibility)D.5 Die Strafmündige Bevölkerung des Deutschen Reiches (1882-1928) (Population of the German Empire of the a...

In 2023, police in Germany solved 58.4 percent of crimes. Figures fluctuated slightly during recent years, but were higher than the crime clearance rate in the 1990s.

Germany - Population reporting occurrence of crime, violence or vandalism in their area: Above 60% of median equivalised income was 10.40% in December of 2023, according to the EUROSTAT. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Germany - Population reporting occurrence of crime, violence or vandalism in their area: Above 60% of median equivalised income - last updated from the EUROSTAT on June of 2025. Historically, Germany - Population reporting occurrence of crime, violence or vandalism in their area: Above 60% of median equivalised income reached a record high of 13.30% in December of 2017 and a record low of 7.70% in December of 2020.

Time series Information on the number of people living in Germany aged 8 and over (disaggregation by offence, total number of suspected persons, by sex, by age)

The share of non-German crime suspects in Germany was 41.1 percent in 2023. This was an increase compared to the previous year. Figures fluctuated during the specified time period, peaking in 2023.

In 2023, the German police had roughly 207,150 juvenile criminal suspects. This was an increase compared to the previous year, at almost 189,150 suspects.