Crime and Safety: Moving to Spain?

Jose Antonio Lorencio Abril, Mariana Mayorga Llano

HispaAnalytics

Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

La Alhambra

La Alhambra, Granada

Cehegín

Cehegín old town, Murcia

Playa de Torimbia

Playa de Torimbia, Asturias

Moving to a new country is a big decision, specially when we are looking to a place to work for a medium-long term.

Safety is one of the most important factors to consider when choosing a new place to live, but can be sometimes disregarded.

In this analysis, we will explore the crime rates in Spain, and how they have evolved over the years. We aim to provide a better understanding of the country's safety, so that you can make an informed decision when choosing your new home.

Spain is a country with a rich culture and history, and a great place to live in terms of living standards and quality of life. Spanish people are really open and friendly, and the country has a lot to offer in terms of food, culture, and entertainment.

Are you ready? Let's get started!

About Spanish Geo-Political Division...

Spain is a country divided into 17 autonomous communities, which are further subdivided into 50 provinces.

  • Each autonomous community has its own level of self-governance.
  • Provinces are administrative regions within the autonomous communities.
  • Ceuta and Melilla are exceptions: they are autonomous cities on Africa.
  • Within provinces, there are various cities, towns, and municipalities, each with its own local government and administration.

Image retrieved from ResearchGate

Provinces with Highest Crime per Capita [2010-2022]

About the provinces...

Balears is known for its four largest islands: Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera.

Barcelona and Madrid are the most populated provinces in Spain.

Girona and Tarragona are neighboring provinces of Barcelona, mostly known by tourists for their Roman ruins.

Ceuta and Melilla are the only Spanish cities in Africa, being autonomous territories.

Málaga is the only province in Andalucia in this list.

Alicante and Valencia are known for their beaches and Mediterranean climate.

Crimes per Type [2010-2022]

About Crime Classification...

In Spain, crimes are classified according to their nature.
  • Against Individuals: Offenses harming individuals' well-being.
  • Against Patrimony: Crimes involving asset destruction, theft, or damage.
  • Against Freedom: Violations of personal liberty.
  • Against Sexuality: Acts against sexual autonomy or consent.
  • Against Family: Harm to family well-being.
  • Against Collective Safety: Threats to community security.

This analysis focuses on the crimes from the categories shown here, which were the most common and/or most relevant for civilian's safety.

🔆Interactive Chart

➡Select a crime type from the inner circle to take closer look to this class distribution.

➡Click in the hole inside the chart to zoom out to a general view.

➡Put the mouse over the chart to see additional information of each secton.

A matter of luck?

Facing a crime may be a result of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

🔆Bet Time! How lucky are you?

➡ Click on the "Test Your Luck" button to find out!

➡ You can either win the lottery or be victim of a crime. What will it be? Checkout the probabilities

Probabilities* of each scenario

  • Probability to win the Spanish Lottery: 0.1694%
  • Probability of a Patrimony Crime: 50.5716%
  • Probability of a Collective Crime: 9.7623%
  • Probability of a Freedom Crime: 15.9359%
  • Probability of a Sexual Crime: 0.7765%
  • Probability of an Individual Crime: 19.9947%
  • Probability of a Family Crime: 2.7896%

*This results are simulated assuming independency among crime registers based on calculations per capita. Lottery winners are also assumed to be independent from crimes. This results are for entretaining purposes and do not attempt to reflect the past or the future of its players.

Tragamonedas

Did you know...?

In 2022,

Madrid

was the province with most registered homicides with 183 cases

In 2022, a daily average of

14K

crimes where registered in the country.

In 2023, the city of

Bilbao

has the lowest Safety Index from Spain [*]

In 2022, a daily average of

4

homicides where registered in the country.

Don't worry! It's not as bad as it looks...

In 2022,

90%

of people ended the year without facing any crime

80.4% of spanish people feel safe walking alone at night [*]

Homicide rate in Spain is

3.7 times

lower than in other OECD countries [*]

Spain is inside the

19%

safest countries in the world [*]

Top 10 Provinces with Lowest Crime per Capita [2010-2022]

The lower, the better!

Teruel is the province with less crimes per capita registered! It has less than 150K inhabitants,

Asturias has the highest population from this top 10 with around 1M inhabitants. The remining provinces have less than 624K people each.

In 2022, the sum of all crimes registered in these 10 provinces is around 110K (average per capita of 0.0009). As comparison, only in that year Madrid had more than 350K crimes (average per capita of 0.0023)

Still unsure where to move in? Personalize your scenario!

🔆Interactive Chart

➡Select a crime type on the left list and province at the bottom box.

Provinces

Legend

Summary of your selection

We hope to have given you a clear view of the crime and safety situation in Spain.

If you are interested in delving deeper into the data, you can check our sources:

➡ Spanish crime data: Spanish National Institute of Statistics

➡ Spanish population data: Spanish National Institute of Statistics

➡ Spanish GDP data: Spanish National Institute of Statistics

➡ Spanish police data: Newtral

➡ Spanish universities data: Spanish Ministry of Education