Thursday. 28.03.2024

During 2020, a total of 537,700 offences against the criminal code were recorded in Finland by the police, customs and border guard, which is 84,900 cases (18.8%) more than in 2019.

The Finnish police recorded 531,000 of these offences, which is 19.6% more than in 2019. A total of 6,400 offences were recorded by the customs (-18.4%) and 2,900 offences by the border guard (-45.7%).

offences-criminal-code-2020-by-Statistics-FinlandSource: Statistics Finland.

Assault, rape

The number of assault offences recorded was 32,700 during 2020, which is 3.4% than in 2019. The number of assault offences in restaurants decreased by 43.4% and that of assault offences in public places by 3.9%. In turn, the number of assaults in private dwellings increased by 6.5%.

The recorded number of offences against life was 91, which is 19 cases more than in 2019. Attempted homicides numbered 398, which is 69 cases more than in the year before.

Altogether, 1,438 rapes were recorded, which is 39 cases (2.6%) fewer than in 2019. The recorded number of sexual abuses of a child was 1,746, which is 2.2 % more than in the year before.

In addition, 1,149 other sexual offences were reported. Of them, 543 were cases of sexual harassment, which is 25 cases (4.8%) more than in 2019.

Offences against property

A total of 252,500 offences against property were recorded, which is 36,500 (16.9%) more than in the previous year. More offences against property were last recorded in the statistics in the year 2011.

The number of robberies reported was 2,000, which is 11.1% more than in the year before and the number of frauds was 33,300, which is 16.1% more year-on-year.

A total of 137,100 theft offences were reported, which is 10,200 cases (8%) more than in 2019. The recorded number of break-ins into houses and free-time residences was 4,700, which is 4.1% higher. Altogether, 51,600 thefts and petty thefts from shops were recorded, which is 8.2% more than in the year before.

The recorded number of unauthorized uses and thefts of vehicles was 6,200, which is 8.9% more than in the year before.

The recorded number of damages to property was 32,800, which is good 2,200 cases more than in the previous year.

Narcotics

The number of narcotics offences recorded was nearly 37,000, which is up by 14.4% on the year before. Around two out of three (23.700) were use offences, which is 12.4% more than in the previous year.

The number of recorded cases of drunken driving was 20,300 in 2020, which is 10% more than in 2019.

A total of 4,200 cases of identity theft were recorded, which is nearly 300 cases (6.6%) higher than one year before.

Altogether, 80,7800 cases of endangerment of traffic safety and hit-and-runs (Criminal Code, Section 23, Paragraphs 1 to 2, 11) were recorded, which is 21.8% more than one year before.

Criminal offences increased by 18.8% in Finland in 2020