Sex Crimes in Sweden Have Tripled in Last Four Years, New Data Shows
Annual crime report from Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention reveals surge
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The number of Swedish citizens who have reported being the victim of a sex crime has risen sharply over the last four years, alarming new data shows.
The most recent annual crime figures show the percentage of people in Sweden to report sexual assaults has tripled between 2014 and 2018.
The figures were published in the annual crime report from the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention's (Brå) new National Security Survey.
While the Swedish mainstream press hailed the minor decrease in sexual assaults from 2017 to 2018 as a positive development, the massive surge in sex crimes along the four-year timeline was largely underreported, despite the alarming trend.
The report reveals that six percent of the population in Sweden had self-reported being the victim of a sexual offense in 2018, compared to 6.4 percent in 2017.
Looking a little further back along the timeline, however, shows that sex crimes have multiplied drastically in the past few years.
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In 2014, the data shows just 2 percent of the Swedish population filed reports that they were sexually assaulted.
In a four-year time-span, sex crimes in Sweden have increased to three times that number by 2017 and 2018.
The rise from 2 percent to 6.4 reveals an extremely negative development that should be cause for concern.
Swedish journalist Joakim Lamotte slammed the country’s mainstream press for downplaying the data.
Lamotte wrote on Twitter: “According to this report, all crimes except sexual crimes have increased substantially.
"As far as sexual crimes are concerned, we have seen an avalanche increase since 2014, and it would be absurd if that figure continued to rise forever.
"Now, the proportion of sexual crimes is 6 percent," Lamotte continued.
"In 2014, it was 2 percent. In four years, sex crimes in Sweden have increased threefold, which is a disaster.”
“A more appropriate headline should be: ‘New report shows that crime and insecurity in Sweden set new records,'” he added.
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Last year, around 22,500 sexual crimes were reported in Sweden, 7,960 of which were classified as rape.
Swedish broadcaster SVT reported last year that 58 percent of convicted rapists in Sweden were born outside of Europe.
The new report also revealed that all types of crime are increasing across the country.
In 2018, 26.4 percent of the population reported being exposed to a crime.
Figures from another new survey in Sweden revealed that nearly one in four women are afraid to leave their homes at night out of fear of being threatened or assaulted.
