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Statistics on

Offences and victims reported to the police

The statistics provides an overview of offences reported to the police and prosecution authority. Find figures for type of offence and scene of crime, as well as figures on type of victim (person, enterprise) and breakdowns of victims by e.g. sex, age and place of residence.

Updated: 31 May 2024
Next update: 26 May 2025

Selected figures from the statistics

  • Offences and victims reported to the police, by group of offence. Absolute figures
    Offences and victims reported to the police, by group of offence. Absolute figures
    2023
    Offences reported to the police, total327 997
    ¬ Property theft111 584
    ¬ Other offences for profit32 843
    ¬ Criminal damage22 732
    ¬ Violence and maltreatment42 994
    ¬ Sexual offences7 484
    ¬ Drug and alcohol offences29 788
    ¬ Public order and integrity violations31 456
    ¬ Traffic offences43 975
    ¬ Other offences5 141
    Offences reported with persons as victims, total180 052
    Victims (persons) of offences reported, total163 528
    Victims (persons) of property theft, total76 936
    Victims (persons) of violence and maltreatment, total37 045
    Explanation of symbols
  • Offences reported to the police, by type of victim and group of offence. Absolute figures
    Offences reported to the police, by type of victim and group of offence. Absolute figures
    TotalPersonOther juridical unit/enterpriseWithout victim or unknown
    2023
    All groups of offences327 997180 05245 826102 119
    ¬ Property theft111 58482 16927 7121 703
    ¬ Other offences for profit32 84324 6174 3883 838
    ¬ Criminal damage22 73211 8389 1801 714
    ¬ Violence and maltreatment42 99436 9651 2044 825
    ¬ Sexual offences7 4845 904171 563
    ¬ Drug and alcohol offences29 78839238329 013
    ¬ Public order and integrity violations31 4569 6461 89319 917
    ¬ Traffic offences43 9756 88178736 307
    ¬ Other offences5 1411 6402623 239
    Explanation of symbols
  • Victims (persons), by number of offences, sex and age. Absolute figures and per cent
    Victims (persons), by number of offences, sex and age. Absolute figures and per cent
    Total1 offence2 offences3 offences4 or more offences
    2023
    Absolute figures
    Total163 528145 62413 8012 5121 591
    Sex
    Males92 39382 5377 8591 315682
    Females71 13563 0875 9421 197909
    Age
    0-9 years3 9413 5043575624
    10-19 years16 20914 1461 538308217
    20-29 years33 44029 5472 967577349
    30-39 years33 02528 9833 007607428
    40-49 years29 96526 6252 599451290
    50-59 years23 93521 5231 909324179
    60-69 years13 01611 9578919969
    70-79 years7 4806 9754137121
    80 years or older2 4292 2941081611
    Unknown age88701233
    Per cent
    Total100.089.18.41.51.0
    Sex
    Males100.089.38.51.40.7
    Females100.088.78.41.71.3
    Age
    0-9 years100.088.99.11.40.6
    10-19 years100.087.39.51.91.3
    20-29 years100.088.48.91.71.0
    30-39 years100.087.89.11.81.3
    40-49 years100.088.98.71.51.0
    50-59 years100.089.98.01.40.7
    60-69 years100.091.96.80.80.5
    70-79 years100.093.25.50.90.3
    80 years or older100.094.44.40.70.5
    Unknown age100.079.513.63.43.4
    Explanation of symbols
  • Victims (persons) of property theft, by number of property thefts, sex and age. Absolute figures and per cent
    Victims (persons) of property theft, by number of property thefts, sex and age. Absolute figures and per cent
    Total1 offence2 offences3 offences4 or more offences
    2023
    Absolute figures
    Total76 93671 6254 658512141
    Sex
    Males45 36542 1042 87130684
    Females31 57129 5211 78720657
    Age
    0-9 years3835300
    10-19 years3 3973 24015061
    20-29 years17 23115 9191 13214535
    30-39 years17 41716 0821 12815948
    40-49 years16 53615 3491 05010532
    50-59 years12 36111 5357505818
    60-69 years6 0835 752307186
    70-79 years2 9422 815110161
    80 years or older9318982850
    Unknown age00000
    Per cent
    Total100.093.16.10.70.2
    Sex
    Males100.092.86.30.70.2
    Females100.093.55.70.70.2
    Age
    0-9 years100.092.17.90.00.0
    10-19 years100.095.44.40.20.0
    20-29 years100.092.46.60.80.2
    30-39 years100.092.36.50.90.3
    40-49 years100.092.86.30.60.2
    50-59 years100.093.36.10.50.1
    60-69 years100.094.65.00.30.1
    70-79 years100.095.73.70.50.0
    80 years or older100.096.53.00.50.0
    Unknown age.....
    Explanation of symbols
  • Victims (persons) of violence and maltreatment, by number of offences of violence and maltreatment, sex and age. Absolute figures and per cent
    Victims (persons) of violence and maltreatment, by number of offences of violence and maltreatment, sex and age. Absolute figures and per cent
    Total1 offence2 offences3 offences4 or more offences
    2023
    Absolute figures
    Total37 04532 9913 195593266
    Sex
    Males20 50718 3651 702315125
    Females16 53814 6261 493278141
    Age
    0-9 years2 8502 592241143
    10-19 years7 3336 60060010033
    20-29 years7 9377 00370915174
    30-39 years7 0886 19268414171
    40-49 years5 3764 7844727545
    50-59 years3 8493 4353087729
    60-69 years1 7411 580127268
    70-79 years6576064443
    80 years or older199185950
    Unknown age1514100
    Per cent
    Total100.089.18.61.60.7
    Sex
    Males100.089.68.31.50.6
    Females100.088.49.01.70.9
    Age
    0-9 years100.090.98.50.50.1
    10-19 years100.090.08.21.40.5
    20-29 years100.088.28.91.90.9
    30-39 years100.087.49.72.01.0
    40-49 years100.089.08.81.40.8
    50-59 years100.089.28.02.00.8
    60-69 years100.090.87.31.50.5
    70-79 years100.092.26.70.60.5
    80 years or older100.093.04.52.50.0
    Unknown age100.093.36.70.00.0
    Explanation of symbols

About the statistics

The information under «About the statistics» was last updated 30 October 2023.

Offences reported to the police

All offences registered by the police and the prosecution authority as reported in the course of the statistical year. The fact that an offence is reported to the police in a specific year does not necessarily mean that the offence was committed in the same year (91.3 and 92.3 per cent of all offences reported to the police in 2021 and 2022 respectively had a final committed date in 2021 and 2022). Violations under the Road Traffic Act or Customs Act that are settled by on the spot fines are not regarded as offences reported to the police, and therefore not included in the statistics. Cases reported to and investigated and completed by the Norwegian Bureau for the Investigation of Police Affairs are not included in the statistics.

Offences

In crime statistics defined as acts that are described by law, at any given time, as punishable. To date, more than 1 270 different codes have been used in the polices’ central registration system for offences BL/STRASAK/PAL, of which about 700 different codes are actively used today to classify offences.

Following the Penal Code of 2005 coming into effect on 1 October 2015, around 430 new codes were introduced into the police’ central registration system for offences. These replaced the codes from the Penal Code of 1902, which are about the same in numbers. Consequentially, Statistics Norway now use the new version of Standard for types of offences, Type of offence 2015, to classify offences.

Group of offence

Offences are divided into nine main groups. These groups of offences are further divided into several underlying, more specified, types of offences.

Type of offence

Offences are divided into about 150 unique types of offences. Similar types of offences are grouped together to a varying degree of aggregated levels, where all levels are included in the nine groups of offences.

Category of offence

A former classification of offences used in the statistics for the period 1993-2014, where offences were classified as either a crime or a misdemeanor. For more information on this expired classification, see the version Types of offences 2006 in KLASS and About the statistics 2014 for Offences reported to the police.

A crime was normally a punishable act of a more serious nature than a misdemeanour. Crimes and misdemeanours under the Penal Code of 1902 are referred to in the second and third part of the act respectively. According to the Penal Code of 1902 § 2, punishable acts described in other laws were crimes if they carried a sentence of more than three months' imprisonment, unless otherwise decided. Other punishable acts were misdemeanours. Some categories of offences (e.g. criminal damage and some special laws) could, by law, be both a crime and a misdemeanour. If the offence category was not given based on the offence code applied, the police’s registration of offence category was used in the statistics.

Type of victim

All offences reported to the police are classified in the statistics according to the Type of victim registered in the case. All persons or other legal entities that are subjected to and registered as the victim of one or more offences are regarded as victims. An offence can either have a person, another legal entity (normally an enterprise) or have no victim - either because no party has been directly aggrieved (e.g. in some traffic or narcotic offences), or the victim registration is insufficient. In some cases, several victims are registered in the same case, which means that more than one was the victim of the same offence. In such cases, all victims are kept and included in the tables on victims. If both persons and enterprises are victims in the same case and of the same offence, the person is chosen in preference to the enterprise in the classification of the type of victim.

Victims (persons) of offences reported

Persons registered as a victim of one or more offences reported within the statistical year.

In some cases, a person is subjected to more than one offence, and thereby registered as a victim more than once in the same statistical year. Tables on victims (persons) show the number of different persons that have been registered as a victim within the statistical year. In other words, one person counts only once as a victim during a statistical year. This also applies to persons without a personal ID number, provided they can be identified as the same person by means of date of birth, name, sex, place of residence and/or citizenship.

In tables on victims (persons), persons registered as a victim of more than one offence during the statistical year will be grouped by principal offence - which is the offence that according to the law can have the most severe penalty. In case of equal severity, the offence with the first date of crime is chose, in effecet the offences at which point the victim was youngest.

The statbank tables (11624-11629) on victims (persons) of violence and maltreatment include everyone who is registered with at least one offence in this group of offence. In other words, tables show all persons who have been subjected to at least one case of violence or mistreatment, and how many of this type of offences they are registered with during the year. These tables do not therefore indicate whether victims have also been exposed to other types of offences and/or if they have a principal offence in another group of offence. This also applies to tables on all victims (persons) of property theft.

Age

Is calculated based on date of birth and the date the offence was committed (the former is used first, and the latter is used if the former is not available). If information about the date the offence was committed is missing, the age is calculated by the date the offence was registered as reported to the police.

Several legal provisions on the sexual abuse of children, unlike most other penal provisions in Norway, are specified with the age of the victim. In these cases, Statistics Norway has specified the age as unknown when register information requires a higher age than in the legal provision. With the exception of cases where dates are logically wrong (e.g. where the date of birth is after the date the offence was committed, or the age is too high), data from the register is used to calculate the age without further controls or revisions.

Place of residence

Is defined based on the victim’s place of residence in the Central Population Register at the beginning of the year. If the person can only be identified in the register at the end of the year, this is the information that is used. For all persons who cannot be identified in the Central Population Register (by means of date of birth, personal ID number or name), information about citizenship, municipality of residence and postal country registered by the police is used.

Victimisation in municipality of residence

Entails a place of residence and scene of crime being registered with a valid municipality value, and the municipality of residence and the municipality of crime being identical. Where the municipality of residence is given, and the scene of crime is not registered as being in the same municipality, this will be classified in the statistics as victimisation outside the municipality of residence.

For places of residence abroad, unspecified or other invalid municipality of residence, no value is added for exposure in or outside the municipality of residence (remains unspecified). The statistics on exposure in or outside a municipality of residence may (partly due to the addition of place of residence, see above) be affected by relocation activity during the period between the point in time for the registered place of residence and the point in time that the offence is registered as being committed. Systematic differences between registered place of residence and actual address of residence can also arise.

Scene of crime

Is defined based on the municipality or country in which the crime was committed, as stipulated in the police register. If the offence lacks information on the municipality and country in which the crime was committed, the scene of crime (such as municipality, county or Norway/abroad) is added based on other descriptions of the scene of crime (e.g. the police zone).

Police district

Is the body ascribed as owner (i.e. which is responsible for the follow-up) of the processing of criminal cases at the point in time of Statistics Norway’s data extraction.

From 1 January 2016, Norwegian police were organised into new regional districts, where 27 police districts were reduced to 12. Statistics Norway release figures by this new division from the year 2016 and onwards.

In addition to the 12 police districts Svalbard has an inherent judicial status, and is specified as a separate district unit. Furthermore, the National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime in Norway (Økokrim), the National Criminal Investigation Service (Kripos), the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) and the International Police Immigration Service (PU) can register and have ownership of criminal cases, all of which are included in the district grouping as "Special agencies" in the statistics (see Comparability over time and space under Production).

Group of offence: Standard for type of offences, version 2015, with an overview of all codes including code names. See detailed overview in KLASS.

Category of offence (crimes and misdemeanours, expired classification). See the standard Type of offence 2006 in Statistical classifications and code lists.

Type of offence Standard for type of offences, version 2015, with an overview of all codes including code names.

Classification of sex

Age (ten-year, five-year and one-year)

Classification of police district

Classification of county

Classification of municipalities

Classification of municipalities by population size is a classification of the municipalities by population (1 January in the statistics year), and in the crime statistics a 7-tier classification is used. This classification has not been formalised as a Statistics Norway standard, but is used by Statistics Norway in various statistics areas.

Classification of centrality (scene of crime) is a standard regional classification of the municipalities’ geographic location in relation to communities of different sizes (4-tier). These are further divided into geographic location in relation to the provincial centres (9-tier). This regional standard was used until 2017. In the crime statistics, both classifications according to the standard are used, i.e. the 4-tier and the more detailed 9-tier. In the 4-tier version of the standard for centrality, all municipalities in Norway are grouped with the central (3), somewhat central (2), less central (1) and least central (0) municipalities. The 9-tier version divides the most central (level 3) into a further three sub-groups, and each of the others (levels 0-2) into two sub-groups:

The provincial centres - i.e. Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, Stavanger, Kristiansand and Tromsø – have the highest level (33, i.e. third sub-group of the most central level 3). The nearest municipalities are classified based on travel time to the centre of a provincial centre. Those within 35 minutes (forOslo45 minutes) have a higher level of centrality (32) than those with 36-75 minutes (forOslo 46-90 minutes) travel time (31). Each of the levels of centrality 0-2 are further classified based on whether the travel time is more or less than 2.5 hours (for Oslo 3 hours) to the centre of the nearest provincial centre.

For the detailed content of this and other regional classifications used in the statistics, see the references to the database for standards.

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