What happened to safety in Sweden?
We start with overall crime statistics and insecurity, then enter the specific phenomena that set Sweden apart: shootings, bombings, sexual offences and honour contexts. Finally the geography — vulnerable areas, gangs' grip on children and businesses, and whether camera surveillance actually helps.
Overview
Crime and over-representation
Whole-picture data from Brå. Development over time, which crimes are rising or falling, and what research says about over-representation controlled for socioeconomics.
Read the chapter — Crime and over-representationSafety — NTU & hate crimes
Share feeling unsafe outdoors, avoiding activities, and reported hate crimes. Official time series from Brå's NTU and hate-crime statistics.
Read the chapter — Safety — NTU & hate crimesShootings — Sweden vs Nordics
Per capita comparison with Norway, Denmark, Finland. How Sweden went from norm to outlier in under 15 years.
Read the chapter — Shootings — Sweden vs NordicsBombings — Europe's highest
Bombings in residential settings. Sweden leads the EU — the trend and what police say about perpetrator profile.
Read the chapter — Bombings — Europe's highestSexual crime
Reported and self-reported rape over time. Brå 2024 report on perpetrators' backgrounds.
Read the chapter — Sexual crimeWomen's safety
NTU data on perceived safety outdoors after dark. Differences between neighbourhoods and ages.
Read the chapter — Women's safetyHonour culture
Honour-related violence and oppression — scope, where it occurs, and the authorities' 20-year underestimate.
Read the chapter — Honour cultureVulnerable areas
Police list of vulnerable, especially vulnerable and risk areas — criteria, development and what parallel societies mean.
Read the chapter — Vulnerable areasVulnerable areas — development
How the list has grown and changed since 2015 — which areas added, which removed.
Read the chapter — Vulnerable areas — developmentGang violence & business
Protection fees, takeovers of restaurants and garages, infiltration of construction and public procurement.
Read the chapter — Gang violence & businessChildren in gang environments
Recruitment under age of criminal responsibility, child soldiers hired for murder, and limited tools of social services.
Read the chapter — Children in gang environmentsSentencing, recidivism, capacity
Brå recidivism data, Prison Service occupancy and three research perspectives on what works — without claiming an answer.
Read the chapter — Sentencing, recidivism, capacityDoes camera surveillance work?
What research says about cameras' effect on crime — what they prevent, what they only displace, and where they work best.
Read the chapter — Does camera surveillance work?