Crime in Sweden is defined by the Swedish Penal Code () and in other Swedish laws and statutory instruments.
According to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå), the number of reported crimes in Sweden has increased when measured from the 1950s, consistent with other Western countries in the postwar era, which they say can be explained by a number of factors, such as statistical and legislative changes and increased public willingness to report crime.
Legal proceedings
When a crime has been committed the authorities will investigate what has happened, this is known as the preliminary investigation and it will be led by a police officer or prosecutor. The Swedish police and the prosecution service are required to register and prosecute all offences of which they become aware. The prosecutors are lawyers employed by the Swedish Prosecution Authority, a wholly independent organization not dependent on courts or the police, and not directed by the Ministry of Justice (any ministerial interference is in fact unconstitutional).
The prosecutor is obliged to lead and direct the preliminary investigations of a crime impartially and objective, make decisions on prosecution issues, and appear in court to process actions in criminal cases. Suspects are entitled to a public defense counsel, either during the preliminary investigation stage or during the trial. The suspect is entitled to examine the material gathered by the prosecutor and is allowed to request the police to conduct further investigation, if he or she considers this to be necessary. A preliminary investigation supervisor decides whether or not these measures can be carried out.
In the case of less serious crimes, if the suspect admits that he/she has committed the offence and it is clear what the punishment should be, the prosecutor can pronounce a so-called order of summary punishment. A preliminary investigation not discontinued may result in the prosecutor deciding to prosecute a person for the crime. This means that there will be a trial at the District Court. The person who has been convicted, the prosecutor and the victim of the crime can appeal against the District Court judgement in the Court of Appeal.
Confidence in the criminal justice system Six out of ten respondents surveyed in the SCS 2013 said they had a high level of confidence in the criminal justice system as a whole, and the police enjoyed similarly high confidence levels. Of the crime victims, a little over half of all surveyed (57%) stated that their experience of the police was generally positive, and nearly one in seven stated that the experience was negative.
Corruption
In general, the level of corruption in Sweden is very low. The legal and institutional framework in Sweden are considered effective in fighting against corruption, and the government agencies are characterized by a high degree of transparency, integrity and accountability.
Since 2015, corruption levels have been rising and the country has steadily fallen in international anti-corruption rankings. Research conducted by Linköping University hinted at a risk of underestimated corruption levels in the country.
Crime statistics
Sweden began recording national crime statistics in 1950, and the method for recording crime has largely remained unchanged until the mid-1960s, when the Swedish police introduced new procedures for crime statistics, which has been presented as a partial explanation for the historical increase in crime reports. In 1974, the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (, abbreviated Brå) became the government agency tasked with producing official statistics and disseminating knowledge on crime. In the early 1990s a new crime reporting system was implemented, which meant that the manual controls became less frequent, resulting in an additional increase in the number of reported crimes.
In January 2017, the Löfven cabinet denied the request from Member Parliament Staffan Danielsson to update the BRÅ statistics on crime with respect to national or immigration background of the perpetrator, as had previously been done in 1995, 2005 but the 2015 was overdue.
According to a 2013 Swedish Crime Survey (SCS) by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, exposure to crime decreased from 2005 to 2013. Since 2014, reports from the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention say that there has been an increase in exposure to some categories of crimes, including fraud, some property crime and sexual offences according to the 2016 SCS. Crimes falling under threats, harassment, assault and robbery continued to climb through 2018. The increase in reports of sexual offenses is partly due to campaigns to encourage reporting, combined with changes to the laws that broadened the legal definition of rape. The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention reports a wide disparity amongst offenders depending on their parents origin. 3.2% of people born to Swedish parents are likely to be the suspect of a crime compared to 10.2% of people born to two non-native parents and 8% of those born abroad.
The figures for fraud and property damage (excluding car theft) are in contrast with the numbers of reported crimes under such categories which have remained roughly constant over the period 2014–16. The number of reported sexual offences clearly reflect the figures in the 2016 SCS, and car related damages/theft are also somewhat reflected. The number of convictions up to 2013 has remained between 110,000 and 130,000 in the 2000s — a decrease since the 1970s, when they numbered around 300,000 — despite the population growth.
In 2024, statistics from the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå) showed a decline in several categories of reported crime, including theft, robbery, and fraud, while drug offences increased by 16 percent, largely due to possession cases. Reported homicides also fell to their lowest level in a decade, with 92 cases recorded in 2024, a drop of 29 compared with 2023.
At the same time, Sweden has faced rising concerns over gang-related violence, particularly shootings and bombings. Police recorded 317 bombings in 2024, more than double the number in 2023, and media estimates suggest that more than 60,000 people may be connected to organised criminal networks.
International comparison Comparisons between countries based on official crime statistics (i.e. "crime reports") require caution, since such statistics are produced differently in different countries. Legal and substantive factors also influence the number of reported crimes. For example:
Sweden applies a system of expansive offence counts for violent crimes, meaning the same crime may be recorded several times, such as in the case of a spousal rape or gang rape. Many other countries employ more restrictive methods of counting. In Sweden, crime data is collected when the offence in question is first reported, at which point the classification of the offence may be unclear. It retains this classification in the published crime statistics, even if later investigations indicate that no crime has been committed. The Swedish police and the prosecution service are required to register and prosecute all offences of which they become aware. This can be assumed to lead to a more frequent registration of offences than in systems where the classification of offences is negotiable on the basis of plea bargaining. Willingness to report crime also affects the statistics. A police force and judicial system enjoining a high level of confidence and a good reputation with the public will produce a higher propensity to report crime than a police force which is discredited, inspires fear or distrust.
Large-scale victimisation surveys have been presented as a more reliable indicator on the level of crime in a given country.
Crime trends
Offences against the person The level of exposure to offences against the person has decreased somewhat since 2005 (down from 13.1% to 11.4%), according to SCS 2013. Crimes in this group includes assault, threat, sexual offences, mugging, fraud or harassment. In the recently published SCS 2016, exposure to offences has increased to levels as seen prior to 2005, with 13.3% of the people surveyed reporting that they had been victim to one or more of the aforementioned crimes.
Around one in four (26%) surveyed report having experienced these crimes in 2015.
Assault While the number of reported assaults has been on the increase, crime victim surveys show that a large part of the increase may be due to the fact that more crimes are actually reported. According to the 2013 SCS, the proportion who stated that they have been the victims of assault has declined gradually, from 2.7 per cent in 2005 to 1.9 per cent in 2012. The proportion who are anxious about falling victim to assault has also decreased, from 15 per cent in 2006 to 10 per cent in 2013. This is supported by medical services reporting unchanged levels of incoming patients with wounds derived from assault or serious violent crime. Studies have also shown that police are increasingly likely to personally initiate reports of assault between strangers, which contributes to more cases involving assault being reported.
In the recently published 2016 SCS 2.0 per cent of the population (ages 16–79) were exposed to assault. Over time, exposure to assault has decreased somewhat, and the percentage of victims has declined by 0.7 percentage points since the survey was first conducted in 2005, reaching its lowest point in 2012 and rising slightly since then. The primary reduction has been among young men.
Exposure to assault is more common for men than women, and most common in the 20–24 age bracket. Assault is most common in a public place and in most cases the perpetrator is unknown to the victim.
Sweden has a high rate of reported assault crime when compared internationally, but this can be explained by legal, procedural and statistical differences. For example, the Swedish police applies a system of expansive offence counts for violent crimes, meaning the same crime may be recorded several times. The 2005 European Crime and Safety Survey (2005 EU ICS) found that prevalence victimisation rates for assaults with force was below average in Sweden.
Threats In 2015, 5.0 per cent were exposed to threats. The percentage of persons exposed to threats remained at a relatively stable level between 2005 and 2014.
Exposure to threats is more common among women than men, and most common in the 20–24 and 25–34 age brackets.
Murder and homicide
The number of cases of lethal violence (Murder, manslaughter, and assault with a lethal outcome) in Sweden remained at a relatively constant level over the period of 2002 to 2016 — on average 92 cases per year.
Since 2015 there has been an increase in the number of cases of lethal violence and the figure in 2017 was the highest in Sweden since 2002. After having peaked in 2020 at 124 cases, the rate declined again, down to 84 cases in 2025.
Studies of lethal violence in Sweden have shown that more than half the reported cases were not actually cases of murder or manslaughter. This is because the Swedish crime statistics show all events with a lethal outcome that the police investigate. Many of these reported crimes turn out to be, in reality, suicides, accidents or natural deaths. Despite this statistical anomaly, Sweden has an internationally low murder and homicide rate, with approximately 1.14 reported incidents of murder or manslaughter per 100,000 inhabitants as of 2015. The number of "confirmed cases of lethal violence" has fluctuated between 68 and 112 in the period of 2006–2015, with a decrease from 111 in 2007 to 68 in 2012, followed by an increase to 112 in 2015 and a decrease to 106 in 2016.