According to data published by the Federal Ministry of the Interior in the report on crime 2015, the slight drop in crime in 2014, which had ended the slight rise in penal offenses recorded by the police from 2011 to 2013, was confirmed in 2015. Only in 2015 517,870 penal offenses were recorded, which means a fall of 1.9% compared to 2014 (527,692). This amounts to the lowest figure for ten years.

As usual, the region of Vienna is the one with the highest crime rate (195,098 offenses), slightly fewer than half of those committed in the entire country, although there has been a 3. 6% fall compared to the previous year. The rate of solving crimes continues to rise, now standing at 44% with an increase of 0. 9%.

Burglaries, which had risen by 3.4% the year before in comparison with 2013, saw a drop of 9.3% and are close, with 15,518 cases, to the lowest figures recorded over the last ten years (in 2012, with 15,442). 40. 4% of all burglaries were attempted and 59. 6% were actually executed.

Car theft continues to fall (-0.9%), in line with trend established after big drops at the start of the decade (the accumulated drop over the last ten years is 60%).

Violent crime sees a slight increase of 0.4% (40,333 cases) and is still above the 2006 figure (38,544). On the other hand, as usual, the rate of solving such cases is very high, at 83.5% (a rise of 0.7% compared with the previous year), the highest rate since references began in 2006. The 39 murders committed were solved, as were 93 of the 96 attempted murders. It should be stressed that 61.5% of violent crime involved a relationship between the victim and the aggressor.

Cybercrime increased again by 11.6% (10,010) compared with the previous year (8,966), which had seen a fall by a similar difference. This means that in 2015 this type of crime is at the same level as two years before. Most of these crimes (over 70%) involve Internet-related fraud. Economic crime went down by 2.1% in relation to the previous year (48,601 compared to 49,620 cases in 2014), but the evolution of such crime over the last 10 years has been irregular, with rises and falls, although the overall difference during this period amounts to a drop of roughly 9%.

Over the last year, offences connected to immigration laws have increased considerably (a little over 100%), as a result of human movement due to current armed conflicts. The police reported 71,029 cases (34,070 the previous year). Cases involving organised underground immigration stood at 1,090, compared with 511 in 2014 (and 352 in 2013).

37% of those arrested were foreigners (92,804 of a total of 250,618). The first four nationalities featured were from Romania (9,624), Germany (9,161), Serbia (8,568) and Turkey (6,398). 28.6% were unemployed, 25.5% were working and 15.6% were applying for asylum. The most common crimes involved commercial crimes (15,332) and bodily harm (10,686).

If you would like access to the complete report the website of the Austrian Ministry of the Interior.

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