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London had the highest crime rate among regions of the United Kingdom in 2024/25, at approximately crimes per 1,000 population, followed by Yorkshire and the Humber, at crimes per 1,000 people. On a more local level, the police force area with the highest crime rate in England and Wales was that of Cleveland, in North East England. Although London had the fifth-highest crime rate among police force areas, it was lower than the crime rates of the West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, and South Yorkshire police force areas as well.Ìý

Is crime in the UK rising?

Between the early 2000s and the mid-2010s, crime in the UK declined quite significantly. The crime rates of England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland all fell during this time period. From around 2013/14, however, the crime rate in England and Wales began to rise again, approaching levels seen in the 2000s. In Scotland and Northern Ireland, crime also stopped declining at the same rate, although there was no sudden increase as seen in England and Wales. Without adjusting for population size, theÌýoverall number of crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales reached a peak of around 6.74 million offences in 2022/23, falling slightly in the two years since then.Ìý

What kinds of crime are increasing?

Although overall crime levels have increased, some types of crime have continued to decline. Overall theft offences for example, are far lower than in the 2000s. This is partly due to the decline in burglariesÌýand vehicle theft offences. Shoplifting offences, by contrast, have spiked since the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching a peak of over ** offences in 2024/25. Additionally, the number of violence against the person offences surged from 2014/15 onwards, with the number of sexual offences also at far higher levels than in the recent past.Ìý