Which EU Countries Have the Highest Theft Rates?

Key Takeaways

• Luxembourg records the highest theft rate in the EU. It recorded 2,712 cases per 100,000 people in 2024.
• Germany ranks 2nd in the EU for total theft cases. Its rate ranks only 8th. It recorded 1,377 per 100,000 people.
• Cyprus records the lowest theft rate in the EU. It recorded 65 cases per 100,000 people in 2024.
• Luxembourg’s theft rate runs more than 40 times higher than Cyprus’s. That is the widest gap between any two EU countries in the dataset.
• France, Germany, and Italy record the EU’s three highest total theft counts. Their large populations drive those totals, not a higher theft rate per resident.

Cases of Theft by EU Country

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Learn something new about Germany every week and make informed decisions with confidence.

Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland Post the EU’s Highest Theft Rates

Luxembourg has fewer than 700,000 residents. It also has one of the highest average incomes in the world.

Despite that, Luxembourg records the highest theft rate in the EU. In 2024, that meant 2,712 cases per 100,000 people.

Four countries record theft rates above 2,200 per 100,000 people. They are all small, high-income economies:

• Luxembourg: 2,712 per 100,000
• Denmark: 2,623 per 100,000
• Sweden: 2,510 per 100,000
• Finland: 2,277 per 100,000

Part of the gap is also a reflection of how consistently each country records and reports theft to police. The numbers are not only based on how often theft happens.

National legal definitions and recording practices differ across the EU. That limits how directly countries can be compared.

France, Germany, and Italy Record the EU’s Three Highest Total Theft Counts

Three countries record the highest total theft counts in the EU:

• France: 1,312,589
• Germany: 1,148,913
• Italy: 915,385

France, Germany, and Italy are also the EU’s three largest countries by population.

A larger population produces a larger total count of any recorded crime. It is independent of how common theft is for any individual resident.

Despite a high ranking on absolute numbers, Germany’s theft rate ranks only 8th in the EU. It recorded 1,377 thefts per 100,000 people in 2024.

The gap comes down to population. Germany has enough residents that even a moderate rate of theft still produces a large total count.

In terms of safety, the crime rate matters more than the total. A large population can push a country’s raw theft count higher without making it a riskier place for any one resident to live.