Federal Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer and the interior minister of Schleswig-Holstein, Hans-Joachim Grote, presented the official statistics on crime for 2018 in Berlin today. Holger Münch, president of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) also presented the initial results of the 2017 survey of crime victims and perceived security.

In 2018, the police recorded 5,555,520 criminal offences. Not counting violations of law concerning foreigners (the Residence Act, Asylum Act and the Freedom of Movement Act/EU), this figure was 5,392,456, or 3.4% fewer offences than in 2017 (5,582,136).

Commenting on the statistics, Federal Minister Seehofer said,

"The crime rate is steadily dropping. The number of crimes committed in Germany has decreased for the second year in a row. The federal and state security authorities are doing an excellent job of fighting crime. The rate of crimes solved has reached a record high at 56.5%. But public perceptions of security do not entirely reflect this positive trend, as shown by the results of the BKA’s 2017 survey of crime victims and perceived security. Reducing crime and making people feel safer: The only way to do this is by continuing to improve the security authorities’ human and material resources."

The following statistics are based on criminal offences registered by the police in Germany as a whole, not counting violations of law concerning foreigners.

The share of cases solved was 56.5%, the highest since this statistic was introduced in 2005 (crimes not including violations of law concerning foreigners). In 2017, this figure was 55.7%.

The number of suspects was slightly lower than in the previous year: 1,931,079 compared to 1,974,805 in 2017. Most of the suspects are male (2018: 75.7%). As in the previous year, about 30% of all suspects were not German nationals; the absolute number fell from 599,357 in 2017 to 589,200 in 2018.

Cases of theft fell by 7.5% to 1,936,315, mostly the result of a significant drop again this year in domestic burglaries (down 16.3% to 97,504 cases in 2018) and pickpocketing (down 18.2% to 104,196 cases in 2018).

Münch, Seehofer and Grote present the official crime statistics for 2018 (Larger version opens in new window) Source: Henning Schacht BKA President Münch, Federal Minister Seehofer and Interior Minister Grote presenting the official crime statistics for 2018

Interior Minister Grote, the current chair of the standing conference of federal and state interior ministers, said:

"The statistics on domestic burglaries show how effectively the federal and state security authorities can work together. When the number of domestic burglaries rose sharply a few years ago, we stepped up our efforts in this area. The federal and state authorities started working more closely together, sharing information and ideas and coordinating our actions. This shows that close cooperation between the federal and state levels leads to long-term success."

The number of attempted home break-ins rose to more than 45% of all domestic burglaries, indicating that public information campaigns and existing programmes to help pay for home security products are effective in preventing crime.

In 2018, 185,377 cases of violent crime were recorded nationwide (2017: 188,946 cases), including 136,727 cases of dangerous and serious bodily harm (2017: 137,058). Compared to the previous year, violent crime was down slightly by 1.9%.

The number of cases rose in the following fields of criminal activity: resisting public authority and attacking enforcement officers (+39.9%; not entirely comparable to previous years due to amendment of the law in 2017 and resulting change of classification in the official statistics); distribution of pornographic material (+13.6% to 11,435 cases); narcotics offences (+6.1% to 350,662 cases); and violations of the Weapons Act (+5.5 to 40,104 cases).