Methodology & sources

Safetlas shows crime that the police have officially recorded. The data comes from each country's own police and government stats offices. We do not use news reports. We do not use user guesses.

The rules we follow

1. Rates, not raw counts. We show crimes per 1,000 people. This lets you compare a big city with a small town.
2. Compare within one country only. Each country counts crime in its own way. So colours and ranks never cross borders. The one cross-border layer is the Numbeo survey and the Georgetown women's safety index. Both are clearly marked.
3. Grey never means unsafe. It only means there is no reliable official data.
4. Tourist areas look worse. Rates are counted per resident. A place with many visitors but few residents will show a high rate. Think city centres, ports and station areas. We flag this where it matters.

Sources by country

Each country uses its own official police or crime figures. Population counts and map boundaries come from national stats offices and EU open data.

1. United Kingdom, England and Wales. Home Office recorded crime. Street-level data from data.police.uk. Population from the ONS.
2. United Kingdom, Scotland. Recorded Crime in Scotland, from gov.scot. Shown by council area, on its own scale.
3. Germany. BKA police crime figures, by district.
4. France. SSMSI crime data. Paris, Lyon and Marseille are split by district.
5. Italy. ISTAT reported crimes, by province and capital city.
6. Spain. Interior Ministry crime figures. Includes the Catalan and Basque forces. Covers provinces and larger towns.
7. Portugal. INE and DGPJ crime rates, by town.
8. Netherlands. Police crime data, by neighbourhood. Population from CBS.
9. Belgium. Federal Police crime figures, by town.
10. Ireland. CSO recorded crime, by Garda division. Marked as data under reservation.
11. Denmark. Statistics Denmark crime data, by town.
12. Sweden. Reported crime from BRÅ, by town.
13. Norway. Statistics Norway (SSB) reported offences, by municipality. Shown as a rolling two-year average.
14. Switzerland. Federal Statistical Office (BFS) police crime statistics, by canton. Criminal Code offences only; population from Eurostat.
15. Poland. Statistics Poland (GUS Local Data Bank) crimes ascertained by the police, by county (powiat).
16. Hungary. Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) registered crimes, by county. Population from Eurostat.
17. Romania. National Institute of Statistics (INS) police-handled crime rate, by county. A single total per county; population from Eurostat.
18. Bulgaria. Eurostat police-recorded offences, by province (oblast). Selected offence types only; population from Eurostat.
19. Austria. Federal Criminal Police Office (BMI) reported offences, by federal state (Bundesland). A single total per state; population from Eurostat.
20. Slovakia. Eurostat police-recorded offences, by region (kraj). Selected offence types only; population from Eurostat.
21. Greece. Eurostat police-recorded offences, by regional unit (Athens as one Attica region), 2021. Selected offence types only; population from Eurostat.
22. Serbia. Eurostat police-recorded offences, by statistical region (oblast). Selected offence types only; population from Eurostat.
23. Lithuania. Eurostat police-recorded offences, by county (apskritis). Selected offence types only; population from Eurostat.
24. Latvia. Eurostat police-recorded offences, by statistical region. Selected offence types only; population from Eurostat.
25. Estonia. Eurostat police-recorded offences, by region. Selected offence types only; population from Eurostat.
26. Finland. Eurostat police-recorded offences, by region (maakunta). Selected offence types only; population from Eurostat.
27. Czechia. Police open crime data, grouped into districts.
28. Europe overview. The Numbeo Safety Index and the Georgetown women's safety index. These are the only figures compared across borders.