The four Nordic countries Sweden, Iceland, Norway, and Denmark are between the five countries with the highest rate of reported sexual violence in Europe in 2022. More than 200 cases per 100,000 inhabitants were reported in Sweden.Please note that reporting varies from country to country, and the willingness of victims to come forward can vary across regions and cultures, therefore a comparison between the countries should be taken with caution.

The number of rape and sexual assault cases reported to the police in Germany peaked at 12,186 in 2023 during the period shown here. Previously, the highest number of cases, 11,896, had been recorded the year before. Based on the definition in criminal law, sexual assault includes rape, as well as other sexually driven physical attacks. Rape is defined as forcing a person to have sex. Increased crime clearance rate The question remains how high the number of unreported cases is. Reasons for not reporting a sexual assault vary among victims. In recent years, the German police reported increasing clearance rates for sexual crimes. In 2022, 83.7 percent of rape and sexual assault cases were solved, compared to 78.6 percent in 2016. In 2023, however this figure dropped to 83.4 percent, perhaps due to the increase in the number of cases. Among males suspected of committing such crimes,over 75 percent were young adults aged 18 to 21 years. Types of German police forces German police forces are divided into several different types, which all have clearly established tasks regulated by law. The Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt, BKA) is often compared to the FBI in the U.S. and investigates federal crimes, such as kidnapping. The Federal Police (Bundespolizei), works in railway stations, at airports, and seaports. They also protect borders, government buildings, and deal with organized crime and terrorism. The criminal police (Kriminalpolizei, Kripo), the only policemen not wearing in uniform in Germany, handle assault, murder, and rape cases, as well as theft. The uniformed police (Schutzpolizei, SchuPo), or beat police, are regularly visible in streets, as they are responsible for traffic safety, among other tasks, and may be approached directly by people in need of assistance or help.

In the year ended June 2023, European victims accounted for around 31 percent of victim-reported sexual assault crimes in New Zealand. The number of victim-reported crimes has trended slightly upwards over the past few years, with females in the 15 to 19 age category reporting the highest number of offenses.

In the year ended June 2019, European offenders accounted for 43.8 percent of the offenders of sexual assault crime in New Zealand. The number of victim-reported crimes has trended slightly upwards the past few years, with the Canterbury and Counties/Manukau regions reporting the highest number of offences across the country.

There were 31,050 rapes of female victims reported in France in 2021, with a further 3,937 rapes of male victims. France reported the highest number of rapes in this year among the provided European countries, with Germany reporting the second-highest number, at 9,797 females and 761 males.

In 2023, 88 percent of the victims of rape or attempted rape recorded by the French security forces were women. The proportion of men among the perpetrators of these crimes was 98 percent. Regarding sexual offenses, 85 percent of the victims were women, and 96 percent of the perpetrators were men. It should also be noted that the older the victims, the more women are represented among them.

In Sweden, the total number of reported cases of sexual offences increased from 2012 to 2021, before falling somewhat again in 2022. Whereas a total number of over 16,000 sexual offenses were reported in 2013, this had increased to nearly 24,000 by 2023. The highest number of these were cases of sexual harassment, followed by rape. Especially the number of reported cases of rape increased over the period, from 6,000 in 2012 to 9,300 in 2023. This is probably down to an increased awareness about reporting.

Since the early 1970s the European Commission´s Standard & Special Eurobarometer are regularly monitoring the public opinion in the European Union member countries. Principal investigators are the Directorate-General Communication and on occasion other departments of the European Commission or the European Parliament. Over time, candidate and accession countries were included in the Standard Eurobarometer Series. Selected questions or modules may not have been surveyed in each sample. Please consult the basic questionnaire for more information on country filter instructions or other questionnaire routing filters. In this study the following modules are included: 1. Discrimination in the European Union, 2. Fighting against organised crime (witness protection, identity fraud, tax fraud), 3. Science and research (biological and medical research), 4. Justice, freedom and security policy areas, 5. Intelligent systems in vehicles, 6. European Union Humanitarian Aid (ECHO).

Topics: 1. Discrimination in the European Union: perceived extent of discrimination in the own country with regard to: ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, disability; development of the extent of discrimination in the own country with regard to the aforementioned characteristics compared to five years ago; attitude towards the following statements on discrimination in the own country: people of different ethnic origin are more often being controlled by the police than the rest of the population, homosexuality is still a taboo, people over 50 are often considered as no longer capable of working efficiently, everyone is free to practice his / her belief; attitude towards selected statements: people of different ethnic origin enrich culture of own country, getting into nightclubs is harder for people of different ethnic origin, family responsibilities are an obstacle for women to accessing management positions, difficult for homosexuals to state their sexual orientation in the workplace, wearing of visible religious symbols in the workplace is acceptable, financial support for disabled persons in order to eliminate physical obstacles; disadvantageous criteria for equally qualified applicants in a recruiting process: name, address, way of speaking, skin colour or ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, expression of religious belief, smoker, look physical appearance; advantageousness of belonging to the following groups: different ethnic origin than the rest of the population, Roma, aged under 25, men, homosexual, aged over 50, disabled, different religion, women; likelihood to get a job, be accepted for training or get promoted for the following people with equivalent qualifications: woman compared with a man, person aged over 50 compared with a person under 50, disabled person compared with an able-bodied person, foreigner compared to a national, coloured person compared to a white person, person with different ethnic origin, homosexual person, person with different religion, person aged under 25 compared to a person over 25; attitude towards increasing the share of selected groups: members of parliament of different ethnic origin, female members of parliament, women in management positions, people aged over 50 in companies, disabled people in the workplace; attitude towards the adoption of specific measures to provide equal opportunities in the field of employment on the basis of the following characteristics: ethnic origin, gender, age, religious belief, disability, sexual orientation; assessment of the efforts in the own country to fight discrimination as sufficient; most important players in fighting discrimination; knowledge test on the existence of national laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of: ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, disability; preferred points of contact in case of experienced discrimination: national body for equal treatment, lawyer to take legal action, trade union, association, international institutions, EU; awareness of own rights in case of being a victim of discrimination or harassment; attitude towards providing anonymous information as part of a census in order to fight discrimination about: ethnic origin, religion, health situation, sexual orientation.

1. Fighting against organised crime (witness protection, identity fraud, tax fraud): preference for witness protection in the following cases: all kinds of crime, only in certain cases, not in any circumstances; preference for witness protection: before trial, during trial, after trial; preference for witness protection for the following groups of persons: anyone who witnessed a crime and feels in danger, anyone who witnessed a crime and feels in danger and provides relevant information for the case, only if the witness is a victim of the crime; attitude towards protecting members of criminal organisations if they provide relevant information for the case; attitude towards an EU policy on...

Rape offences have increased dramatically in England and Wales since 2012/13 when there were 16,038 offences. After this year, rape offences increased substantially, reaching a high of 69,973 offences in the 2021/22 reporting year, before falling slightly to 68,949 in 2022/23, and to 67,928 in 2023/24. When 2023/24 is compared with the 2002/03 reporting year, there was an almost sixfold increase in the number of rape offences recorded by the police in England and Wales. Similar patterns in Scotland and Northern Ireland While there has also been an increase in the number of rape and attempted rape offences in Scotland, the increase has not been quite as steep, with offences reaching 2,459 in 2022/23 compared with 924 in 2002/03. In Northern Ireland there has been a sharp rise in overall sexual offences, rising from 1,438 in 2002/03, to 4,232 by 2022/23. This rise in overall sexual offences is also observable in Scotland, with 15,049 offences in 2022/23, compared with 6,623 in 2002/03. Explaining the increase Although overall crime has shown a noticeable uptick recently, the rise in sexual offences has been much more pronounced. Rather than falling in the mid-2010s and then rising again towards the end of the decade, like overall crime, sexual offences remained at a relatively stable figure, until 2013/14 when it increased dramatically, a pattern mirrored in both Scotland and Northern Ireland. This is possibly due to better reporting practices by the police as well as an increasing willingness of victims to come forward, including historic victims of sexual violence.

The number of reported sexual offences in Denmark increased significantly since 2015. That year, less than 3,000 sexual offences were reported, a number that had increased to over 9,500 as of 2022. A vast majority of the victims are women. In December 2020, the Danish parliament passed a law based on sexual consent, following the example of the neighboring country Sweden.

Victims of criminal offences  In 2021, the number of reported victims of crime in Denmark dropped below 60,000. The most common crime experienced by Danes was violent crimes. The number of male victims was higher than female victims.

Safe country  In general, Denmark is considered a safe and peaceful country. In 2022, it ranked sixth in the ranking of the most peaceful countries in the world. Its Global Peace Index was 1.3. The following applies here: the lower the index value, the higher the peacefulness. This index measures the level of safety, the extent of current domestic and international conflicts, as well as the extent of militarization.

In the 2023/24 reporting year there were 3.1 sexual offences per 1,000 population in England and Wales, with Cleveland police force reporting the highest rate of 4.4 sexual crimes per 1,000 people.

In 2022, 780 cases of sexual offences were registered in Amsterdam, the capital city of the Netherlands. Of these, 300 were cases of sexual assault, 270 were cases of rape and 90 were cases of indecency. In comparison, 660 cases of sexual offences were registered in the previous year, approximately 110 less than in the most recent period.

In Iceland, almost 80 percent of the crime suspects in 2021 were men. Roughly 20 percent of the suspects were women. In total, there were 5,874 crime suspects in Iceland in 2021. Iceland had one of the lowest homicide rates in Europe that year.

In 2023, almost one out of three ever-partnered Turkish women had experienced domestic violence. In comparison, only 12 percent of women living in Switzerland had experienced domestic violence in their lifetime.

In 2023, there were 91.23 criminal offenses reported per 1,000 inhabitants in Finland. Despite a decreasing trend until recent years, 2020 saw a considerable increase in the number of crimes, having reached a high of 98.2 per 1,000 population. Finland has one of the lowest incarceration rates in Europe In general, Finland is known as a safe country, with crime levels being comparable to those of other Nordic countries. Traffic offenses, along with property offenses, are the most common types of crime. In terms of imprisonment, Finland has one of the lowest incarceration rates in Europe. Currently, Finland has several closed and open prisons, which a focus on rehabilitation and reintegration into society. This “softer” approach to punishing crime has also been linked to falling recidivism rates. Sexual and domestic violence most often affects women Women constituted almost 67.8 percent of domestic violence victims in Finland in 2023. Furthermore, the number of female, as well as male, victims was higher than in the previous year. The Finnish government is addressing this problem by promoting sexual and reproductive health and the rights of women and girls, along with placing the human rights of women as one of its priorities.