Crime & safety · statistics and concepts

Youth robbery

Youth robbery is not a separate offence classification — it means robbery where the victim is under 18. Here are the reported-crime statistics, what Brå's mapping shows about victims and suspects, and where the evidence ends.

Sources: Brå 2021:19 Youth robbery, Brå reported offences, Penal Code ch. 8.

Fact pageData 2015–2025

Three things to know first

1. Youth robbery is not an offence classification. Robbery is regulated in chapter 8, sections 5–6 of the Penal Code; the category is defined by the victim's age, under 18.
2. According to Brå 2021:19, reports more than doubled in 2015–2019 (2,489 in 2019). They have since mostly declined, to 680 in 2025 (2023 slightly above 2022). Brå stresses that the rise coincided with sharply increased attention.
3. There are no official statistics on cleared or prosecuted youth robberies — conviction statistics do not break robbery down by victim age.

How we measureCrime and safety →

Definitions and legal provisions

Robbery

Legal provision: Penal Code ch. 8 s. 5
Meaning: Stealing something by using violence against a person, or threats implying imminent danger. What separates robbery from theft is the violence or threat — not the value of what is taken.

Aggravated robbery

Legal provision: Penal Code ch. 8 s. 6
Meaning: Robbery assessed as aggravated, for example if the violence was life-threatening, if the act caused serious bodily harm, or if it was particularly ruthless.

Theft

Legal provision: Penal Code ch. 8 s. 1
Meaning: Unlawfully taking someone else's property without violence or threats. The same item taken under threat of violence is robbery instead.

Youth robbery

Legal provision: No separate classification — an analytical definition
Meaning: In Brå 2021:19, robbery where the victim is under 18. The definition is based on the victim's age, not the offender's. The term is used in research because robberies against young people differ in situation, takings and motive from robberies against adults and shops.

Humiliation robbery

Legal provision: No separate classification — a debate term
Meaning: Robbery where the course of events includes power exertion or humiliation beyond the theft itself. Such elements may affect classification and penal value but are not recorded separately in the statistics.

Definitions and legal provisions
Term	Legal provision	Meaning
Robbery	Penal Code ch. 8 s. 5	Stealing something by using violence against a person, or threats implying imminent danger. What separates robbery from theft is the violence or threat — not the value of what is taken.
Aggravated robbery	Penal Code ch. 8 s. 6	Robbery assessed as aggravated, for example if the violence was life-threatening, if the act caused serious bodily harm, or if it was particularly ruthless.
Theft	Penal Code ch. 8 s. 1	Unlawfully taking someone else's property without violence or threats. The same item taken under threat of violence is robbery instead.
Youth robbery	No separate classification — an analytical definition	In Brå 2021:19, robbery where the victim is under 18. The definition is based on the victim's age, not the offender's. The term is used in research because robberies against young people differ in situation, takings and motive from robberies against adults and shops.
Humiliation robbery	No separate classification — a debate term	Robbery where the course of events includes power exertion or humiliation beyond the theft itself. Such elements may affect classification and penal value but are not recorded separately in the statistics.

Why youth robbery is studied separately

• The takings differ: mobile phones, branded clothing and wireless earphones rather than cash from a till.
• The situation differs: the robberies mostly happen outdoors after school, in public settings and close to other people.
• The motives differ: besides money, Brå cites status within the group, excitement and underlying conflicts.
• Both victims and suspects are mainly young people, which makes schools, social services and parents central actors alongside police and courts.

Reported youth robberies over time

The series covers reported personal robberies where the victim is under 18. It measures reported events — not offenders and not convictions.

Robbery against persons under 18

2016–2025 · reports · Sweden

Personrån mot person under 18 år: antal anmälningar moves from 1,178 (2016) to 680 (2025) — down 498 reports. Full values are available in the data table below (2016–2025, Sverige).

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Diagrammet ritas när sidan har laddats — samma data finns i tabellfliken.

Observed published official statistics with no processing of our own

Method: NOTE: The increase in 2015–2019 coincided with markedly greater media and police attention to robberies of children, which probably increased reporting propensity. Both actual crime trends and reporting frequency contribute to the change in level and cannot be separated in reported-offence statistics.

Source: BRÅ – Anmälda brott, tabell 10 (rån mot privatperson under 18 år, inkl. grovt) (accessed 2026-10)

• Reported-crime statistics count reported events, not offenders and not convictions. A report may be dropped.
• Brå emphasises that the increase in 2015–2019 coincided with sharply increased media and police attention. Actual crime development and increased reporting propensity cannot be separated in reported-crime statistics.
• According to Brå, the 2020 decline occurred only in metropolitan and metropolitan-adjacent municipalities and coincided with the pandemic's effects on young people's movement patterns.
• The series covers personal robbery where the victim is under 18. Shop robberies and robberies against adults are not included.
• Cleared and prosecuted youth robberies are not reported as a separate category in Brå's official statistics — robbery is reported as a whole, without breakdown by victim age. That gap cannot be filled without a commissioned data extract.

Reported personal robberies — all ages

Personal robbery in total, for comparison. It includes robberies against adults and is therefore not youth robbery.

2024

Reported personal robberies: 4 074
Note: Firearms were used in 356 personal robberies.

2025

Reported personal robberies: 3 155
Note: −23 % against 2024. Firearms in 283 robberies, 83 % of them against adults.

Anmälda personrån per år, alla åldrar
Year	Reported personal robberies	Note
2024	4 074	Firearms were used in 356 personal robberies.
2025	3 155	−23 % against 2024. Firearms in 283 robberies, 83 % of them against adults.

Victims — who is affected

• The victims are mainly teenage boys. Robberies against girls occur but are fewer in the reports.
• The robberies mostly happen after school, between 15:00 and 22:00.
• Common locations are shopping centres and malls, public-transport hubs, schools and sports facilities.
• Most robberies occur close to other people — not in secluded places.
• Based on interviews with parents, Brå describes consequences in the form of fear and avoidance: young people stop moving in certain areas, change their route or drop activities. In individual cases families have considered moving.
• Self-reported victimisation for robbery among young people rose during the period, as did worry about being victimised — particularly among boys.

Suspects — what Brå 2021:19 reports

• The majority of suspects are boys, mainly aged 15–20. The largest increase in suspects is among 15- and 16-year-olds.
• The share of suspects who are girls rose from 4 to 8 per cent during the period — most clearly in the Stockholm police region.
• Robberies are often committed by several people together; lone offenders are a minority in the reviewed material.
• Close to half of youth robberies are committed by someone suspected of youth robbery more than once.
• Two-thirds of the suspects in 2015–2019 had a foreign background, and many lived in socioeconomically vulnerable areas. Brå reports this descriptively: the report does not test causes and does not control for age, sex or socioeconomic factors.
• Common motives according to Brå: a need for money, status within one's own group, excitement, or an underlying conflict between suspect and victim.

Methods and takings

• Threats are more common than extensive physical violence. Superiority in numbers is often enough for the victim to hand over their belongings.
• Weapons, above all knives, occur in some robberies but are not the most common element.
• Robberies not infrequently begin with a pretext: a question, a request to borrow a phone, or a claimed earlier conflict.
• Common takings are mobile phones, branded clothing, jackets, wireless earphones and small amounts of cash. Watches and jewellery also occur.
• Some cases involve power exertion and humiliation beyond the theft itself — what the public debate calls humiliation robbery.

Geographic patterns

• The number of reported youth robberies is highest in the metropolitan regions, where the population base is also largest.
• In percentage terms, the increase in 2015–2020 was largest in smaller towns and rural municipalities.
• The 2020 decline occurred only in metropolitan and metropolitan-adjacent municipalities; in smaller municipalities numbers continued to rise.
• Brå does not publish an official municipal series for youth robbery specifically. Municipal figures for robbery as a whole exist in Brå's statistics database, but they do not distinguish the victim's age.

What Brå says

• Brå 2021:19 is the only systematic national review of youth robbery. It is based on reports and preliminary investigations from 2015–2019 plus interviews.
• The report finds that the number of reported robberies against people under 18 more than doubled in 2015–2019.
• The report constructed six categories of power exertion and humiliation elements, since neither a legal definition nor earlier research existed. The share of cases with such elements did not increase during the period.
• Brå stresses that reported-crime statistics are affected by attention and reporting propensity, and that the trend therefore cannot be read as a pure measure of criminality.
• The report points to the need for cooperation between police, schools and social services, and to place-based measures in the settings where the robberies occur.

What the police say

• The Police Authority handles robbery against young people within local situational reports and community pledges, not as a separate national statistical product.
• The police report confirmed shootings and explosions nationally, but not youth robbery — national robbery statistics are published by Brå.
• We do not reproduce individual police statements without a primary source. Where the authority has published a report or situational assessment, it is linked under Primary sources.

Prevention work

Police

Type of measure: Area-based presence in the settings and at the times when robberies occur, cooperation through local situational reports and community pledges, and investigation and child-welfare notification when suspects are minors.

Schools

Type of measure: Reporting routines, safety work in and around school grounds, and information sharing with social services and the police under cooperation agreements.

Social services

Type of measure: Child-welfare notifications, interventions for young people at risk and for young people suspected of crime, and follow-up after a sanction.

Municipalities

Type of measure: Since 1 July 2023 municipalities have a statutory crime-prevention duty (Act 2023:196), which includes situational assessments and action plans. Place-based cooperation around malls, transport stops and school grounds is a common measure.

Förebyggande arbete per aktör och åtgärdstyp
Actor	Type of measure
Police	Area-based presence in the settings and at the times when robberies occur, cooperation through local situational reports and community pledges, and investigation and child-welfare notification when suspects are minors.
Schools	Reporting routines, safety work in and around school grounds, and information sharing with social services and the police under cooperation agreements.
Social services	Child-welfare notifications, interventions for young people at risk and for young people suspected of crime, and follow-up after a sanction.
Municipalities	Since 1 July 2023 municipalities have a statutory crime-prevention duty (Act 2023:196), which includes situational assessments and action plans. Place-based cooperation around malls, transport stops and school grounds is a common measure.

What the data doesn't say

There are no official statistics on cleared or prosecuted youth robberies. Brå's conviction statistics report robbery as a whole, without breakdown by victim age.
Reported-crime statistics cannot separate actual crime development from changed reporting propensity. Brå states this explicitly for 2015–2019.
Brå 2021:19 is based on preliminary investigations, not on judgments. A coded element in an investigation is not the same as an established act.
The information about suspects covers 2015–2019 and cannot be extrapolated to today's levels.
There is no published national series on reoffending specifically in youth robbery; Brå's figure on repeat suspects concerns the material reviewed for 2015–2019.
There is no published municipal breakdown for youth robbery specifically. Municipal figures for robbery as a whole do not distinguish the victim's age.
SVERIGEFAKTA publishes no case timeline of individual youth robberies, because we only present cases with a final judgment and at least two independent primary sources. No such youth-robbery cases exist in our case database today.

Primary sources

The question this page answers

How common are youth robberies in Sweden, have they increased, and what do we actually know about victims and suspects?

At a glance

Key figures — the most important numbers on this page

Reported robberies against private persons under 18, 2016 → 2019

1,178 → 2,489

Brå — reported offences, table 10

Reported robberies against private persons under 18 in 2025

680

Brå — reported offences, table 10; mostly declining since the 2019 peak (2023 slightly above 2022)

Main age range among suspects

15–20

Brå 2021:19; the largest increase is among 15- and 16-year-olds

Share of suspects who are girls, 2015–2019

4 → 8 %

Brå 2021:19 — most pronounced in the Stockholm police region

Share of youth robberies committed by a repeat suspect

about 50 %

Brå 2021:19 — robberies with an identified suspect

Most common time of day

15:00–22:00

Brå 2021:19 — after school, often near malls and transport hubs

Official series on prosecuted youth robberies

Conviction statistics do not break robbery down by victim age

What does the data show?

Objective observations — not interpretations

Youth robbery is not a separate offence classification. Robbery is regulated in chapter 8, sections 5–6 of the Penal Code, and research defines youth robbery by the victim's age — under 18.
Reported personal robberies against under-18s more than doubled between 2015 and 2019 according to Brå 2021:19, to 2,489 in 2019. They have mostly declined since, to 680 in 2025 (2023 slightly above 2022).
Brå stresses that the rise coincided with sharply increased media and police attention. Actual crime trends and increased reporting propensity cannot be separated in reported-crime statistics.
Robberies mainly occur after school between 15:00 and 22:00, in public settings near malls, transport hubs, schools and sports facilities — usually close to other people.
Both victims and suspects are mostly teenage boys. Robberies are often committed by several offenders together, and nearly half are committed by someone suspected of youth robbery more than once.
Threats are more common than extensive violence; typical takings are mobile phones, branded clothing and wireless earphones. Some cases involve power exertion and humiliation beyond the theft itself.
There are no official statistics on cleared or prosecuted youth robberies, and no published municipal series for youth robbery specifically.

Method note
Quantitative figures come from Brå’s official statistics on reported offences (personal robbery, victim under 18) and from Brå 2021:19 “Ungdomsrån”, which reviewed reports and investigations from 2015–2019. Findings from the report refer to that period and cannot be extrapolated. No figures on this page are calculated or estimated by SVERIGEFAKTA.

Definitions

How the numbers are counted — and what they do not cover

Robbery: Stealing by using violence against a person or threats implying imminent danger (Penal Code ch. 8 s. 5). It is the violence or threat — not the value — that separates robbery from theft.
Aggravated robbery: Robbery assessed as aggravated, e.g. life-threatening violence, serious bodily harm or particular ruthlessness (Penal Code ch. 8 s. 6).
Youth robbery: An analytical definition used in Brå 2021:19: robbery where the victim is under 18. Defined by victim age, not offender age.No separate offence code — the statistics combine personal robbery with the victim's recorded age.
Humiliation robbery: Robbery involving power exertion or humiliation beyond the theft itself. Such elements may affect classification and penal value but are not recorded separately.
Reported offences: Events reported to and recorded by police, customs, prosecutors or the Economic Crime Authority. Says nothing about whether an offence was substantiated.

Primary sources

Agencies and research institutions behind this page

agencies/institutions

reports & studies

primary datasets

Frequently asked questions

Short answers to what is most often discussed

A robbery where the victim is under 18. It is an analytical definition used in research, not a separate offence classification. Robbery is regulated in chapter 8, sections 5–6 of the Penal Code, and Brå 2021:19 defines the category by the victim's age, not the offender's.

Logical next steps if you want to understand the background

Sources for this page

The data comes from official primary sources.

Brå · Annually
Anmälda brott
Anmälda brott
Latest data point 31 Dec 2025 · Source published 27 Mar 2026

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Short source

SVERIGEFAKTA, “Youth robbery in Sweden — statistics, definitions and what Brå shows”. Original source: Brå. https://sverigefakta.com/en/youth-robbery

Full reference

SVERIGEFAKTA, “Youth robbery in Sweden — statistics, definitions and what Brå shows”. Period: 2015–2025. Original source: Brå (https://bra.se/statistik/statistik-om-rattsvasendet/anmalda-brott). https://sverigefakta.com/en/youth-robbery

APA 7

Youth robbery in Sweden — statistics, definitions and what Brå shows. (n.d.). SVERIGEFAKTA. Retrieved 2026-10-26, from https://sverigefakta.com/en/youth-robbery Original source: Brå.

Harvard

“Youth robbery in Sweden — statistics, definitions and what Brå shows” (n.d.) SVERIGEFAKTA. Available at: https://sverigefakta.com/en/youth-robbery (Accessed: 2026-10-26). Original source: Brå.

BibTeX

@misc{sverigefakta_2026_en_youthrobbery,
  title        = {Youth robbery in Sweden — statistics, definitions and what Brå shows},
  howpublished = {\url{https://sverigefakta.com/en/youth-robbery}},
  note         = {Presented by SVERIGEFAKTA; period 2015–2025; original source Brå}
}

Canonical link

https://sverigefakta.com/en/youth-robbery

More citation formats and rules

Year	reports
2016	1,178
2017	1,524
2018	1,896
2019	2,489
2020	2,186
2021	1,623
2022	1,430
2023	1,452
2024	967
2025	680

Three things to know first

Definitions and legal provisions

Robbery

Aggravated robbery

Theft

Youth robbery

Humiliation robbery

Why youth robbery is studied separately

Reported youth robberies over time

Reported personal robberies — all ages

2024

2025

Victims — who is affected

Suspects — what Brå 2021:19 reports

Methods and takings

Geographic patterns

What Brå says

What the police say

Prevention work

Police

Schools

Social services

Municipalities

Primary sources

At a glance

What does the data show?

Definitions

Primary sources

Frequently asked questions

Related topics

Sources for this page

Three things to know first

Definitions and legal provisions

Robbery

Aggravated robbery

Theft

Youth robbery

Humiliation robbery

Why youth robbery is studied separately

Reported youth robberies over time

Reported personal robberies — all ages

2024

2025

Victims — who is affected

Suspects — what Brå 2021:19 reports

Methods and takings

Geographic patterns

What Brå says

What the police say

Prevention work

Police

Schools

Social services

Municipalities

Primary sources

At a glance

What does the data show?

Definitions

Primary sources

Frequently asked questions

Related topics

Sources for this page