Residential burglaries in the EU down by 38% in a decade

As summer holidays begin, police authorities everywhere are urging residents to take extra care to protect their homes against burglaries and break-ins.

In 2024, police recorded 1.20 million burglary offences in the EU, of which 721,876 (60.3%) were burglaries of private residential premises. Compared with 2023, burglaries decreased by 2.6% (-32,589 cases) and residential burglaries by 0.5% (-3,736). 

Data show a downward trend in both types of offences over the last decade. Burglaries declined by 35.4% in 2024, from 1.86 million cases in 2014, registering a continuous decrease until 2021 (1.1 million), when it reached the lowest value in the 10-year analysis. 

Compared with 2014, residential burglaries dropped in 2024 by 38.1%, from 1.17 million cases in 2014, recording the same evolution as the main category. In 2021, the number of police-recorded burglaries of private residences reached the lowest level in a decade, at 642,244 cases, increasing again in the following 2 years.  

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Source dataset: crim_off_cat

For more information

• Thematic section on crime and criminal justice
• Database on crime and criminal justice
  

Methodological notes

The statistics in this article are based on official figures for police-recorded offences (criminal acts) in Europe. The number of police-recorded crimes varies widely across the EU, even after adjusting for population size. This variation can stem from differences in legislation, police recording practices and reporting behaviour, which can limit comparability.  

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