This section provides with a summary of the main data concerning public safety at a national and regional level, using the numbers published by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior as a reference. This information can be found on the website Portal estadístico de Criminalidad [Web site for statistics on criminality]. Our goal is to make information more accessible so it can be directly and readily consulted for a wide range of reasons.
This summary includes charts and graphs that offer absolute numbers, percentages and crime rates per thousand inhabitants based on data provided by the Ministry: facts available, arrests, suspects and victimizations.
The methodology used by the Spanish Ministry to manage the published data can be found on its yearbook, in the section devoted to Public Safety. Please refer to this document for further and more detailed information. Crimes have been classified into different criminal categories for a better analysis and presentation.
• All the crime rates presented are calculated per 1000 citizens; each rate specifies the population group selected for its measurement.
We would also like to underline the fact that certain offences which were formerly considered misdemeanours, such as theft, damage or injury, are now considered lesser offences. This is due to the passing of the legislation Ley Orgánica 1/2015 on March 30th, that reformed the Criminal Code. As a result, these are now classified as generic criminal offences: “injuries”, “thefts”, “damages”. Hence, an increase in the number of certain criminal offences does not always entail a real increase in criminality, for it is only due to this new classification of criminal categories.
All the charts and graphs published on this site, except for those where an original source is specified, have been made by the Institute of Criminology of Málaga based on data provided by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior.
• Further information on criminality data provided by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior can be found on the following link: https://estadisticasdecriminalidad.ses.mir.es
