In the spring of each year, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) publishes comparative crime statistics (PKS) for cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, which include all crimes reported to the police in the previous year. A list that hardly any city likes to adorn itself with. In a city that surprisingly ended up in the top ten most dangerous cities in 2021 and was classified by the BKA as particularly crime-prone, heated security debates then flared up. We will give you an overview of which ones were involved and which major cities in Germany are currently among the most unsafe places.
1st place: Berlin
The list is currently clearly headed by the German capital. Around 13,158 criminal offenses per 100,000 inhabitants were registered in Berlin in 2021, which results in a total of 482,127 criminal offenses. This makes the city on the Spree not only the political capital, but also makes it the most criminal city in Germany, as it was last year. But Berlin’s leading position in terms of crime probably comes as a surprise to few. The anonymity of what is by far the largest city in the country, the troubled districts, a flourishing nightlife with a large drug scene and heated up large-scale political demonstrations mean that the crime rate in Berlin regularly skyrockets.
2. Platz: Frankfurt am Main
The banking metropolis is considered a drug hotspot and has always been exceptionally crime-ridden due to the country’s largest airport. Up until 2020, this earned it the title of “Germany’s most criminal city”. In 2020, Berlin overtook the southern Hessian city and has not given back the title since then. Like Berlin, however, Frankfurt has also become safer overall, according to the figures: the police there counted 96,449 criminal offenses in 2021. That is 12,622 per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 2020 more than six percent less.
3rd place: Hanover
A rather inconspicuous third place is and remains the Lower Saxony state capital Hanover. The city on the Leine is still hot on the heels of the two crime metropolises Berlin and Frankfurt am Main and, with 63,578 crimes, i.e. 11,905 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants, can keep its place on the unwelcome podium as in the previous year.
4th place: Halle (Saale)
The fourth place in the current crime statistics is even more inconspicuous than third place. In 2020, the city in Saxony-Anhalt climbed two places to rank 4 among the most unsafe cities in Germany. With 11,577 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, the city with around a quarter of a million inhabitants remained in the top five in 2021.
5th place: Bremen
As in the last two years, the Hanseatic city of Bremen is also ranked 5th among the most dangerous cities in Germany. A total of 63,146 crimes were reported to the police, almost six percent fewer than in 2020.
6th place: Bremerhaven
Bremerhaven is also more of a candidate that you wouldn’t immediately count among the most dangerous cities in the country. However, 10,880 crimes per 100,000 inhabitants speak a different language and secure the port city near Bremen a top position that people there would gladly have done without.
7th place: Leipzig
The Saxon metropolis of Leipzig maintains its position from the previous year, sixth place among the most dangerous cities in Germany. With 64,004 criminal offenses reported by the BKA and 10,712 per 100,000 inhabitants, it is still around seven percent less than in the previous year. A very good value, which also stands out in comparison with declining numbers in other cities.
8th place: Kaiserslautern
Probably the biggest surprise of the current top ten is the Palatinate town of Kaiserslautern, which surprisingly found itself among the most dangerous cities in the country in 2021 with 10,476 per 100,000 inhabitants. After the publication of the Federal Criminal Police Office’s federal crime statistics last spring, a heated discussion about the causes and consequences of the crime explosion broke out. The statistics for 2022 in the spring of this year will show whether anything has happened since the tangible event.
9th place: Aachen
The city of Aachen set an ambiguous trend in terms of crime in 2021. The westernmost city on the border with Belgium climbed two places in the statistics for the most unsafe cities in Germany. Nevertheless, the number of crimes fell from 10,783 to 10,228 per 100,000 inhabitants. In total, the BKA in Aachen registered 25,456 violations in 2021.
10th place: Cologne
The only city in North Rhine-Westphalia that “makes it” among the most dangerous cities in the state alongside Aachen has only recently appeared in the top ten. In 2020, Cologne was still in 12th place. With the recent 109,956 crimes, which means 10,148 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, the crime trend in the cathedral metropolis has nevertheless declined by three percent. In the Rhineland carnival stronghold, it is hoped that this trend will continue.
Where is it safest in Germany?
Incidentally, the safest place is, who may be surprised, not in a big city, but in the tranquil countryside, namely in Bavaria in the Eichstätt district, which has the lowest crime rate in Germany with 1,985 crimes per 100,000 inhabitants. The residents are happy. The districts of Regensburg and Aschaffenburg follow in further places, which are also located in Bavaria.
