Germany: Crime falls 15% in 15 years

Crime in Germany fell by 15% between 2005 and 2019, according to official data released to the newspapers of the Funke media group Friday.

The federal government's Periodic Security Report, which is due to be presented later in Berlin, showed the decline was heavily influenced by a fall in burglaries and thefts of other assets.

The report said the number of cases of serious violent crime had also fallen.

Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told Funke that the report went beyond statistics to show that "Germany is one of the safest countries in the world."

For example, Germany records just a small number of intentional homicides compared with most other countries, he said.

Politically motivated crimes on the up

However, authorities are concerned about a rise in politically motivated crimes, many from far-right groups.

Since the height of the European migrant crisis in 2015, which saw more than a million migrants seek refuge in Germany, more than 20,000 politically motivated crimes have been registered annually, the data showed.

The report also described a sharp increase in far-right hate crimes online, including anti-Semitism.

In 2019, foreign nationals made up 34.6% of people accused of criminal acts, compared to 21.1% in 2009.

The COVID-19 pandemic, meanwhile, sparked a rise in domestic violence, but violent incidents carried out in public declined.

The report looks back on the last 15 years of criminal activity in Germany. It contains the combined knowledge of numerous experts from the police and judiciary.

mm/rt (AFP, dpa, KNA)