Ahead of the presentation of 2025 crime statistics in Germany by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Susanne Prater shares her views on the issue of nationality and statistics. He is a sociologist, psychologist and legal scholar. His work as an expert on crime is based on these diverse perspectives.
More than one third of all suspects are not German citizens. Approximately 16% of Germany’s total population does not hold German citizenship, yet they account for approximately 34% of suspects in crimes as diverse as theft, burglary, and violent crimes.
However, according to Praetor, comparing figures in police crime statistics is often like comparing apples to oranges – in other words, comparing two things that are fundamentally different and thus misleading to compare.
Young men around the world are most prone to criminal activity
Praetor, who is a professor at the police academy in the state of Lower Saxony, cites age and gender as key factors. Both play a major role in criminal activity regardless of ethnic background, as the number of young male suspects has always been disproportionately high. Praetor considers such factors to be highly relevant when interpreting the data.
“Non-Germans are, on average, significantly younger than Germans,” the expert says, adding that young men are a demographic group most frequently exposed to involvement in criminal activity, not only in Germany but around the world.
And, perhaps more importantly, “studies show that people who are perceived as foreigners are more likely to be reported to the police,” says Praetor. According to a 2024 study by the Criminological Institute of Lower Saxony, cases among non-Germans were almost three times higher than among Germans.
crimes that go unreported
The researcher hopes that the study on unreported crime will provide more clarity on the context and causes. In such studies, as many people as possible are randomly selected and surveyed about their experiences with crime. This approach provides additional insight into crimes that are not reported and therefore do not appear in any statistics.
Bésusanne Praetor explains the principle: “I can ask about the migration background. I can also ask about the reasons. And I don’t have the problem of only looking at the crime that has been officially revealed.” The advantage of such surveys of both victims and perpetrators is that they can make a huge difference.
Suzanne Prater explains that this method allows for a more nuanced understanding, as it allows victims and perpetrators alike to be questioned about possible underlying or contributing factors. She adds, “And I’m not the only one facing the problem of seeing the crime officially revealed.”
Praetor says there are already good studies on unreported crime when it comes to young people. “They show that the living conditions of immigrants are quite different from those of Germans,” she explains. Factors such as domestic violence, low levels of education, criminal peer groups, and an emphasis on masculinity have been cited as contributing factors.
A closer look at the nationalities of the suspects also shows how complex the topic of migrant crime rates is. In 2024, less than 13% of suspects were from Ukraine. Compared to the proportion of Ukrainian refugees living in Germany (35.7%), this is a very small number. What is noteworthy in this case is that the overwhelming majority of Ukrainian refugees are women and children.
For the people of Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Georgia, the opposite is true. About three percent of suspects come from these countries, but they account for less than one percent of registered refugees in Germany.
The second largest group of refugees comes from Syria, accounting for one fifth of all refugees in Germany. About 900,000 people live in Germany, while about 115,000 Syrians were identified as suspects by police in 2024. Here, it is also worth noting that the majority of Syrian asylum seekers in Germany are young and male.
So, are North Africans and Georgians more likely to commit crimes than Ukrainians or Germans? It’s helpful to take a closer look at the underlying factors behind the numbers. The relatively low proportion of Ukrainian suspects may be due to the demographic structure in Germany: 63% of adult refugees from that country are women.
In contrast, 74% to 82% of asylum seekers from North African countries are men. And regardless of country of birth or passport, men’s share of total crime is always significantly higher than that of women.
In 2024, there was a 7.5% increase in violent crime involving suspects with non-German nationality. But experts say this may be due to increased reporting rather than actual incidents. They also highlight that violent crimes involve a large number of non-German citizens as victims.
This article has been translated from German.