According to data released by the Interior Ministry, the number of crime reports slightly increased in 2023 compared to the year before.

In 2023, 528,010 reports were filed, an increase of eight percent, or 39,061 reports, compared to 2022. In the same period, the number of solved reports rose by 8.2 percent. A total of 276,043 reports were cleared up—that is 20,867 more than in the previous year.

What are the most common crimes in Austria, then? According to the police, most crimes fall into “property crimes,” which include thefts and burglaries. They are followed by white-collar crime offences, violent crime, cybercrime, and organised crime. 

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Most (55 percent) of the suspects registered are Austrian citizens.

However, according to the police report, the following most common nationalities of foreign suspects are: Romanian, then German, Serbian, Syrian, Hungarian, Turkish, Slovakian, Afghan, Bosnian-Herzegovinian and Croatian. 

Property, white-collar and cybercrime on the rise

The main reason for the increase in the 2023 reporting statistics has to do with the crimes on the rise, which are property crime, white-collar crime and cybercrime.

Around 12.5 percent of all crimes occur on the internet or are related to it – in addition to classic white-collar crimes such as fraud, there are also violent crimes such as dangerous threats or blackmail. 

In addition, there are new forms of crime in connection with ATM card theft and contactless payment methods, according to the police. There has also been an increase in “classic crimes” such as shoplifting.

According to a government press release, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner announced a five-point package of measures to combat rising crime in Austria. “Among other things, this focuses on foreign crime as well as consistent action against all forms of youth crime”, he said.

The first point consists of implementing a criminal investigation service reform with a focus on combating cybercrime and creating 38 criminal investigation units and more than 700 additional jobs, the government said.

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Secondly, consistent measures were continued against the “smuggling mafia,” in particular with the operation on Hungarian territory, the deployment of 130 police officers on Hungarian territory, and the establishment of a specialised “anti-smuggling” department in the Federal Criminal Police Office.

One of the priorities is the issue of “juvenile delinquency”, the Ministry said. The government plans to establish the youth crime task force, lower the age of criminal responsibility (a working group has been set up), and ban knives in public spaces (in preparation).

The government also wants to mandate local police directorates to set “priority measures” in the area of burglary”.

Finally, the last point is to mandate local police to “take priority measures” in the area of crime committed by foreigners “as certain nationalities stand out in the crime statistics, as well as a mandate to the immigration authorities to continue to carry out consistent deportations of foreign criminals”.