Crime is moving in different directions across the UK. Police in Scotland recorded 315,357 crimes in 2025-26, up 5% and the highest level since 2014-15, while police in Northern Ireland recorded 93,601 crimes in the year to March 2026, down 2.3% and the lowest since the series began in 1998/99. In England and Wales, police recorded about 5.2 million crimes (excluding fraud), down 1%. Each nation has its own laws and counting rules, so compare the trends, not the raw totals.
Updated 4 October 2026 · Sources: Scottish Government, Recorded Crime in Scotland 2025-26 (23 June 2026) and Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2024/25; PSNI, Police Recorded Crime in Northern Ireland to 31 March 2026 (14 May 2026); ONS, Crime in England and Wales, year ending March 2026 (23 July 2026)
999 works in every part of the UK. For a crime that has already happened, call 101 or report online: Police Scotland, the PSNI and every police force in England and Wales use 101 as their non-emergency number.
The UK nations in four numbers
Police figures are crimes reported to and recorded by the police in each nation. The 20.8% and 17.1% figures come from household surveys that ask people about crimes they experienced, reported or not. Scotland’s figures are for April 2025 to March 2026; Northern Ireland’s and England and Wales’ are for the year to 31 March 2026.
Can you compare crime in Scotland, Northern Ireland and England and Wales?
Only with care. Scotland has its own criminal law and its own Scottish Crime Recording Standard, so a single incident can be counted differently from England and Wales. Northern Ireland uses the same Home Office counting rules and offence list as England and Wales, but its laws differ in places. The Scottish Government’s own guidance warns that direct comparisons are difficult, so the safest comparison is the direction of travel in each nation.
Is crime going up in Scotland?
Yes. Police Scotland recorded 315,357 crimes in 2025-26, up 5% from 299,111, or 569 crimes per 10,000 people. That is still 49% below the 1991 peak. Shoplifting drove much of the rise, up 19% to 53,369, and non-sexual violence rose 6% to 75,601, mostly common assault. Housebreaking fell 6%, and damage and reckless behaviour fell to its lowest level since 1976.
Is crime going down in Northern Ireland?
Yes. The PSNI recorded 93,601 crimes in the year to 31 March 2026, 2,231 fewer than the year before, a rate of 49 crimes per 1,000 people and the lowest since the series began in 1998/99. Violence against the person fell 3.0%, theft 5.4%, burglary 9.6% and criminal damage 4.9%. Sexual offences and drug offences rose.
Are sexual offences rising in every UK nation?
Recorded sexual offences rose in all three. Scotland recorded 16,430 sexual crimes, up 10% and the highest since 1971. Northern Ireland recorded 4,459, up 4.2%, and England and Wales 217,567, up 4%. A rise in recorded figures can partly reflect more victims coming forward, so it does not by itself prove more offences are happening.
Key: bars show the percentage rise in sexual offences recorded by police compared with the year before. Scotland = 2025-26 (sexual crimes); N. Ireland and England & Wales = year to March 2026.
How do the nations compare, crime by crime?
Key: ▼ green = fewer than a year earlier; ▲ red = more. Categories are not identical across nations (for example Scotland’s “non-sexual crimes of violence” and “housebreaking”, and the England and Wales violence cell shows knife offences only), so read across a row for direction, not size. Scotland publishes homicide figures separately; the latest are for 2024-25. Our own guide to knife crime figures has the England and Wales detail.
What do the figures mean for you?
For local figures, use the postcode checker on safety-app.uk. For the England and Wales detail, read is crime going up or down in the UK? and crime by type in the 2026 figures.
Do people in Scotland experience more crime?
On the latest survey measure, slightly more. The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey found 20.8% of adults experienced at least one crime, including fraud and computer misuse, in 2024/25, compared with 17.1% in England and Wales. For property and violent crime alone, the Scottish Government says both rates have fallen over the long term to a similar level. Most Scots (76%) feel safe walking alone locally after dark.
Frequently asked questions
There is no official league table, because each nation counts crime differently. Northern Ireland’s recorded rate, 49 crimes per 1,000 people, is the lowest in its own series since 1998/99, and Scotland’s is 569 per 10,000. For rankings of towns and cities, see safety-app.uk.
For statistics only, Scotland calls more serious acts “crimes” and less serious ones, such as many road traffic and antisocial behaviour matters, “offences”. The 315,357 figure is crimes only. Police recorded a further 192,276 offences in 2025-26. The split does not change how police investigate.
Police Scotland cleared up 56.7% of recorded crimes in 2025-26, up from 56.0%, the second highest rate since comparable records began in 1976. Clear-up rates are measured differently from outcome rates in England and Wales, so don’t compare them directly.
Call 999 in an emergency anywhere in the UK. Otherwise call 101 or report online to Police Scotland or the PSNI. Our guide 999 or 101: how to report a crime explains which to use, and Crimestoppers lets you stay anonymous.
Sources
- Scottish Government: Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2025-26 (23 June 2026)
- Scottish Government: Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2024/25 main findings (17 March 2026)
- Scottish Government: Homicide in Scotland 2024-25 (28 October 2025)
- Scottish Government: User guide to recorded crime statistics (comparability)
- PSNI: Police recorded crime statistics (bulletin to 31 March 2026, 14 May 2026)
- ONS: Crime in England and Wales, year ending March 2026 (23 July 2026)
General information based on official statistics. Figures are as published by each nation’s statistics producer and are not directly comparable. In an emergency, always call 999.
Keep reading
Scotland, Northern Ireland, England or Wales: see what’s happening around you
Safety App UK shows a live safety map built from police data and community reports, with police stations and Ask for Angela venues, and helps you plan safer routes. Share your live location with a trusted circle, get Safe Zone alerts when you arrive or leave, and trigger an SOS by button or shake, or automatically in higher-crime zones, sending live location and live video to the people you choose. It does not call the emergency services, so in an emergency always dial 999. Free for 7 days, then £2.99 a month. For ages 16+.