Crime in the Netherlands is no longer falling after a 20-year drop, with some types of crime such as traffic and sex offences being reported more frequently in recent years, government statisticians have concluded.

The statistics agency CBS said “the long-term falling trend in crime that began at the turn of the century has not been sustained in recent years,” in a report published on its website.

Crimes recorded by the police declined steadily until 2018 and dropped faster during the pandemic years, when opportunities were restricted by lockdowns.

But since the end of the coronavirus restrictions, all types of recorded crime have returned to levels seen in 2019 or earlier.

The CBS said other sources bore out this trend, such as surveys of victims and cases brought to court by the public prosecution service (Openbare Ministerie).

Recorded crimes reached a peak of 93 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2002, having risen for 40 years, before falling back to 49 per 1,000 in 2017 – a 43% decline. But the figures for 2023 are roughly the same as five years earlier.

Property crime dominates

Crimes against property, which include theft, burglary and fraud, make up more than half the total and have levelled off since 2018, when there were 457,800 recorded offences. In the provisional figures for 2024 the number was 464,100.

Violent crimes, including street robbery, assault and rape, have fallen by around 6% from 83,300 to 78,000, in the last five years. But there has been an increase in recorded sex offences, which have risen from 9,100 to 9,900.

The number of people reporting themselves as victims of a violent crime is at its highest level since 2013.

However, the number of people admitted to hospital as a result of violent incidents has dropped by a third over the same period, suggesting victims are more willing to come forward.

The report says the way police detect and record crimes may partly explain other rising trends. The number of drivers caught under the influence went up by 25% in 2022 after a new saliva test was introduced to detect the presence of drugs in the bloodstream.

Voice of Holland

The increase in reported sex offences may have been partly prompted by the publicity around the Voice of Holland scandal and victims having more confidence in the police to investigate abusers.

Illegal weapons possession has also gone up since 2018, when police began logging it as a separate offence in cases of armed street robbery.

But overall, the CBS concluded that “for most types of crime, the decline that has been visible since 2010 has stagnated over the course of the years … the crime figures are stabilising and the long downward trend does indeed appear to be over.”