The number of crimes recorded by police fell noticeably last year. According to the Police Crime Statistics published on Monday in Berlin, 5,508,559 crimes were registered nationwide in 2025, 5.6 percent fewer than a year earlier. There was also an overall decline in violent crime of 2.3 percent, although some serious offenses saw significant increases in some cases.
"The decline in violent crime is a start, but no reason to sound the all-clear," warned Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) at the presentation of the statistics. Further measures are needed to ensure that "people feel safe in their everyday lives." However, the statistics may also show an opportunity "to record a long-term decline in crime."
There was an increase of 10.3 percent in the offense group rape, sexual coercion and sexual assault in particularly serious cases, and in the distribution, acquisition, possession and production of child pornographic content with an increase of 19.9 percent. Murder, manslaughter and killing on demand increased by 8.4 percent.
There were also increases in computer and benefit fraud, residential burglaries and particularly sharply in so-called new psychoactive substances with an increase of 25.5 percent. On the other hand, the number of crimes involving robbery and extortion as well as thefts decreased.
"Rising numbers in the area of sexual offenses and the alarming extent of sexualized digital violence make it clear that we need to protect those affected even better," warned Hamburg's Interior Senator and current chairman of the Conference of Interior Ministers of the states, Andy Grote (SPD).
However, the increase in registered offenses is also due to changed reporting behavior. "The willingness to report has increased, which is positive," said Grote. This requires particular courage from affected women, especially in the case of perpetrators in their personal environment.
There were different assessments regarding crimes by foreigners. Dobrindt pointed to a significantly disproportionate share of non-German perpetrators. According to statistics, this amounts to 38.5 percent. The Interior Minister specifically mentioned people from Syria and Afghanistan and urged increased deportations.
Grote pointed to special effects in the proportion of non-Germans in crimes on the one hand through traveling criminals without residence in Germany and on the other hand through a particularly high proportion of young men in immigration. In addition, the number of crimes by immigrants had actually decreased disproportionately by minus 9.2 percent.
The President of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Holger Münch, pointed to shifts in the statistics. "Crime is changing, it is becoming more digital, more international and in some areas also more brutal," he said.
Münch also referred to results of a victim survey published in parallel, according to which young people are particularly frequently affected by violent crimes, with an increasing tendency. According to a dark field study also published, the security feeling of the population has increased slightly. However, many people still feel unsafe, for example at night on public transport.
According to the statistics, the clearance rate overall remained largely unchanged last year at 57.9 percent; in 2024 it was 58.0 percent. Without taking into account violations of immigration law, the total number of crimes fell by 4.4 percent. The number of unauthorized entries fell by 27.5 percent, that of unauthorized stays by 31.3 percent.
The authorities attributed the decline in registered offenses compared to the previous year, among other things, to the partial legalization of the possession and cultivation of cannabis and products made from it. Adjusted for this effect, the decline is 4.7 percent, Dobrindt said.
The number of drug offenses fell by 27.7 percent. The Police Crime Statistics are compiled annually nationwide based on data transmitted by the 16 state criminal police offices.
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