Nadia McDonald
Security forces reported a total of 2,325,358 crimes in 2022 of which 83.9% fell under the category of ‘conventional crime’. This figure represents a reduction of 1.6% compared to 2019, the statistical reference year due to the intermediary pandemic years.
Cybercrime, on the other hand, which accounts for 16.1% of all types of crime committed in Spain, saw a 72% increase in 2022 compared with 2019.
Property crimes, which include burglaries, pickpocketing, muggings, robberies and vehicle theft fell by a total of 9.1% in Spain from 2019 to 2022.
Crimes against sexual freedom increased by 28.4% in 2022 compared with 2019. This follows an upwards trend in reported crimes of a sexual nature seen since 2014. According to the report by the Ministry for the Interior this trend may be in part due to a change in policies tackling sexual violence and harrassment as well as campaigns to raise awareness and encourage reporting by victims.
Drug trafficking offences are also on the rise, increasing by 14.4% since 2019, however this can be put down to growing police activity within this realm.
Spain maintains a low crime rate compared to its European counterparts with 48.8 known criminal acts per thousand inhabitants. In the United Kingdom the crime rate reaches 79.5 per thousand, 74.8 in Belgium, 60.7 in Germany and 53.9 in Denmark.
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