Catalina Espinosa
Research expert covering society, economy, and politics for Europe and the EU
Crime in Finland - statistics & facts
Finland is known as a safe country, with crime levels among the working population being comparable to those of other Nordic countries. Property and traffic offenses are the most common types of crime, constituting the majority of all criminal offenses and violations. In general, a lower number of criminal offenses has been recorded over the past decade.
Generally speaking, the total number of offenses and crimes against life has been decreasing since the beginning of the 1990鈥檚. The number of negligent homicide victims in Finland was 101 in 2023, compared to 146 in 2013. The rates are notably lower than in Russia or the Baltic States, but still higher than in other Nordic countries. This difference has been explained by the role of alcohol use and social exclusion as underlying factors.
Thefts and traffic offenses spiked during 2023
Based on data from 2023, over 511,200 crime cases were reported to the Finnish authorities, which was an increase compared the previous year. The overall crime rate reached 91.23 per 1,000 population, compared to roughly 86 per 1,000 inhabitants in the year before. In particular, thefts and traffic offenses spiked during 2023. Of all of the reported offenses and violations, about a quarter were traffic offenses.Generally speaking, the total number of offenses and crimes against life has been decreasing since the beginning of the 1990鈥檚. The number of negligent homicide victims in Finland was 101 in 2023, compared to 146 in 2013. The rates are notably lower than in Russia or the Baltic States, but still higher than in other Nordic countries. This difference has been explained by the role of alcohol use and social exclusion as underlying factors.
Sexual and domestic violence most often affects women in Finland
Most of the criminal offences and infractions are recorded by the Finnish police. For this reason, trends in types of crime also reflect how actively victims report offenses to the authorities. When asked about exposure to violent crime in a 2020 survey, over four percent of Finns said that they had experienced physical violence in the past 12 months. In 2023, the number of victims of recorded violent and sexual offenses amounted to 65,800, increasing by around 12 percent compared to the previous year. The majority of this type of crime victims were women, whereas more men fell victim to violence during the past decade. Moreover, there are major gender differences in experiences of violence. Sexual and domestic violence most often affects women, who constituted almost 68 percent of domestic violence victims in Finland in 2023.Prisons and imprisonment
In terms of imprisonment, the daily average number of people behind bars in Finland has decreased by nearly half from 1975 to 2023. In fact, Finland has one of the lowest incarceration rates in Europe, at around 50 per 100,000 inhabitants. There were around 3,200 inmates in the country鈥檚 28 prisons during 2023. Most of them were sentenced male prisoners who served maximum two years in closed prisons. Currently, Finland has several closed and open prisons, which focus on rehabilitation and reintegration into society. This 鈥渟ofter鈥 approach to punishing crime has also been linked to falling recidivism rates, which was 41 percent among prisoners with one previous sentence.
