The year 2024 closed with an increase in the number of homicides committed in Spain compared to the previous 12 months, according to the criminality balance released this Friday by the Ministry of Interior. Some figures that must be understood in the context that the country has one of the lowest crime rates in the world, according to the department of Fernando Grande-Marlaska in its report. In absolute terms, the number of crimes committed has fallen slightly: 0.3% less. And it has been possible to reverse the upward trend that others had, such as cybers, which have gone from 427,448 of 2023 to 414,133, 3.1% less. This criminal offense represents 88.9% of all cybercriminality and 16.9% of all crime. By communities, the robberies with violence in Aragon place that region at the head of the list of territories where crime has grown more strongly.
The crime balance, with still provisional data, highlights an increase of 5.7% of crimes against sexual freedom, although it clarifies that growth is moderate with respect to the trend that was drawn years ago, which had been 15%. In any case, the interior data – which they collect – indicate that in 2024 5,206 sexual assaults with penetration have been committed; That is, an average 14 violations per day, one more than in 2023. The Ministry explains that the growing trend in these crimes may be related not so much to an increase in the facts committed but with an increase in complaints for “the active policy policies of awareness and reduction of social and personal tolerance compared to this type of criminal acts ”that reduce the number of cases that are never denounced and, therefore, are out of statistics.
Interior makes a positive reading of the registered (2.4%) with 500 cases more than in the last year. “This increase is closely related to the action of security forces and bodies in the framework of specific plans such as the Special Security Plan for the Gibraltar field, since in this criminal phenomenon there are very few complaints. Therefore, it is actually an indicator of police activity, ”they point out in the report. Last Monday, the Ministry announced that in 2024 National Police and Civil Guard had promoted 12,068 police operations within this plan, 43% more than the previous year.
In 2024, 348 murders were registered, 15 deaths more than the previous year, which represents a 4.5%rise. Consulted by this point, sources from the Ministry point out that “it is necessary to follow the evolution of criminal types for a longer period to be able to draw conclusions about consolidated tendencies.” The same explains for kidnapping data, which is the crime that has been most reduced, almost 14% less, from 122 cases to 105, a criminal type that affected Andalusia. Many of them are related to account adjustments between criminal groups, according to police sources.
Crimes against heritage, which include from robberies with or without violence, thefts or the subtraction of vehicles – and that constitute almost half of the total registered – have been reduced by 2.7%. Specifically, those committed with violence have decreased 6.4% and in general robberies without violence to houses have fallen 4.3%. These are crimes that significantly influence citizen security perception.
In Aragon this type of crime has grown with respect to the Spanish average. Almost 30% and has become the region where crime has increased the most in the last year, with a 5.4% rise in the number of crimes, a figure far higher than the rest of the autonomous communities. On the opposite side is the Community of Madrid, which has reduced its rate by 2.9%, especially due to the considerable fall of the number of murders (30% less). Other communities that have managed to stop crime are Extremadura, La Rioja, the Valencian Community and Andalusia.
