In 2021, the number of crimes recorded by the police in Germany, including so-called violent crime, was at its lowest level since the turn of the millennium.

This emerges from a response from the federal government to a request from the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, which is available to the German Press Agency.

Experts explain this, among other things, with a shift in crime to the cyber area and also with Corona.

"We are a safe country"

The information is based on the annually published police crime statistics (PKS), i.e. it shows which crimes have become known to the police, for example through reports.

After 6.3 million crimes in 2000, a peak of 6.6 million in 2004 and a steady decline since 2017, 5.05 million crimes were counted in 2021 - the lowest level in the past 21 years.

“The probability of becoming a victim of a crime in Germany, especially in the area of ​​violent crime, has decreased in recent years.

That's a fact," said Oliver Huth, member of the federal executive board of the Association of German Criminal Investigators (BDK) of the dpa.

“We are a safe country.

You can basically say that.”

The numbers in detail



  • “Violent crime” at its lowest

    : Murder, manslaughter, serious bodily harm, rape or robbery are among the so-called violent crimes.

    The statistics show around 165,000 registered crimes for 2021, the lowest total since 2000 (187,000).

    The peak was in 2007 at 218,000 cases.

  • Murder, manslaughter and euthanasia

    : the numbers range between about 2100 and 2500 registered cases per year.

    There were 2111 recorded cases in 2021 - a low.

  • Rape and sexual assault

    : Between 7,000 and 8,800 cases were counted here every year until 2016.

    In 2017 there was an increase to 11,300 cases, in 2021 there were 9,900. The Federal Ministry of the Interior points out that the numbers from 2017 “cannot or only to a limited extent” be compared with those of previous years.

    In 2016, new criminal offenses were created in sexual criminal law, which are now counted, for example groping and sexual attacks from within a group.

  • Dangerous and serious bodily harm

    : With 155,000 registered cases, there was a peak in this area in 2007, in 2000 it was 117,000, and 21 years later a good 122,000.

  • Robbery, extortion robbery

    : At the beginning of the 2000s, almost 60,000 cases per year were counted here.

    The statistics show a steady decline.

    In 2021, the number was at a low of a good 30,000 and only half

    .

  • Significantly fewer burglaries

    :

    Just a few years ago, burglaries were the big issue.

    Politicians even pushed for a subsidy for burglar-proof apartment and balcony doors.

    There were 167,000 reported cases in 2015 – a record high.

    In 2021 it was less than a third: 54,000 cases, the lowest level since the turn of the millennium.

    There were also lows in so-called street crime (including pickpocketing, group crimes, breach of the peace, car or bicycle theft) and theft overall in 2021.



Something is shifting

The falling numbers don't mean crime is going away.

Rather, experts see a shift.

"Where perpetrators used to rob and steal, there are now many who specialize in offenses that focus on communicating with the victim," Huth said.

The detective named fraud on the Internet or identity theft.

The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) is talking about a “structural change in crime”.

Property crime is declining, but cybercrime offenses have roughly doubled since 2015, BKA President Holger Münch said in April when the crime statistics for 2021 were presented.

He also spoke of a shift from the "analogue bright field" - property crimes are often reported for insurance reasons - to a "digital dark field" with a low reporting rate.

Last but not least, Corona also had a positive effect on crime figures, due to the restrictions on public life in the past two years: "No bar fight without a bar," said Huth.

AfD is primarily interested in “non-German suspects”

With its request from the federal government, the AfD wanted to know above all how the proportion of "non-German suspects" in the various areas had developed since the turn of the millennium.

According to government data, it was just under 26 percent for total crime in 2000 and just under 34 percent in 2021, 27 percent for "violent crime" and 38 percent two decades later, peaking in 2016 at 40 percent.

The number of immigrant criminals is alarming, said the parliamentary manager of the parliamentary group, Stephan Brandner.

The rule of law and the judiciary acted carelessly and with little deterrence, said the AfD politician.