Violent crime rose in Germany in 2024, with police recording a concerning increase in knife attacks, sexual assaults, and youth violence — trends that coincide with a disproportionately high number of offenses attributed to foreign nationals.
According to the latest Police Crime Statistics (PKS) presented in Berlin on Wednesday, foreigners accounted for over 40 percent of all criminal suspects despite comprising 15 percent of the population.
The data, however, significantly understates the true involvement of foreign-born individuals in crime. Under current statistical methods, naturalized citizens — those born abroad but now holding German passports — are classified as “German” in official crime records. This means offenders with a migration background may be underrepresented in the figures, as many are not counted as foreign nationals once naturalized.
In total, 5.84 million crimes were registered by police in 2024, a slight decline of 1.7 percent from the previous year. This drop is largely attributed to the partial legalization of cannabis, which removed thousands of minor drug offenses from official crime tallies.
This has masked the reality of an increase in violent crime by 1.5 percent to 217,277 cases. Knife attacks alone surged to 15,741 cases, representing 7.2 percent of all violent crimes. In states like Bavaria, knife-related offenses more than doubled.
A total of 2,184,834 suspects were identified in 2024. Of these, 913,196 did not hold German citizenship, representing 41.8 percent of all suspects. Meanwhile, the number of German suspects fell by 3.9 percent to 1,271,638.
Although the share of foreign suspects is already high, the true number of offenders with a migration background is likely much higher due to the model used in Germany to report crime data.
BREAKING: ‼️🇩🇪 Germany's worst-kept secret is out — straight from the horse's mouth.
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"This year, we have to talk about non-German suspects," says Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, who admits that foreigners are significantly disproportionately represented in the country's crime… pic.twitter.com/KLZpwz6vH5
The rise in violent crime was not limited to knife attacks. Sexual violence increased sharply, with 13,320 reported cases of rape and sexual assault — a 9.3 percent rise compared to 2023. Of the 11,329 suspects in these cases, 4,437 were non-German nationals, accounting for 39 percent of suspects in this category. The number of murders and manslaughters also rose slightly to 2,303 cases, while serious bodily harm increased by 2.4 percent.
White-collar crime surged by more than 57 percent, driven by fraud and financial scams, while cybercrime and offenses involving new psychoactive substances also climbed significantly.
Another worrying trend is the rise in youth involvement in violence. Although the overall number of crimes committed by children and adolescents dropped slightly, violent crimes in these age groups rose by 11.3 percent among children and 3.8 percent among juveniles. Police officials suggested that lingering psychological effects of pandemic-related restrictions were a possible factor behind this rise.
NEW: 🇩🇪‼️ Left-wing German politician reveals that 40% of sexual offenses in the country are committed by foreigners, as are 49% of robberies.
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) April 2, 2025
"Three-quarters of these perpetrators come from the Maghreb states… If we had mainly taken women and children in recent years, we… pic.twitter.com/MMsUyVkzR6
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser admitted the seriousness of the figures at a press conference in Berlin on Wednesday, calling for swift and decisive legal consequences for violent offenders. “Every day, the police record around 600 violent crimes in Germany. The rule of law must take tough action against violent criminals. They must feel the consequences of their actions quickly and clearly,” she said.
Faeser also stressed the need for an open but honest discussion on the role of migration in crime. “We have to talk about this — without shyness, but also without resentment. If you don’t follow the rules, you have to leave,” she stated, in a marked shift from her tone the previous day, when she praised Germany’s open-door immigration policy and the coalition government’s efforts to attract skilled foreign workers.
The regional breakdown of crime showed stark contrasts. Bavaria remained the safest state, with just 4,218 crimes per 100,000 inhabitants. In contrast, Bremen and Berlin recorded the highest crime rates, with 14,998 and 14,719 crimes per 100,000 residents, respectively.