The crime rate in the United Kingdom declined or remained stable in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland between 2019/20 and 2020/21. In England and Wales, the crime rate fell from 89.8 crimes per 1,000 people to 77.6, while in Scotland it remained at 45.1, with the crime rate of Nothern Ireland falling from 56.2 to 49.8 crimes per thousand population. During this time period the crime rate of England and Wales has been the highest in the UK, while Scotland's crime rate has improved the most, falling from 82.6 crimes per thousand people in 2002/03, to just 45.1 by 2019/20.
Overall crime on the rise
In 2019/20 there were approximately 6.43 million crimes recorded by the police in the United Kingdom, representing the highest figure since 2006/07 when there were around 5.97 million. In fact, since 2013/14 when there were just 4.4 million crimes, there has been year-on-year increases, following an almost constant trend of declining crime between the early 2000s and mid-2010s.
Is austerity to blame?
After the 2010 General Election in the UK the government adopted a fiscal policy which sought to reduce public spending across almost all government departments. Between 2009/10 and 2013/14 government spending on the Police Service fell from 19.3 billion to 16.35 billion. As a result of the decline in spending, police officer numbers declined by approximately 20 thousand in the same time period.
Crime rate per 1,000 population in the United Kingdom from 2002/03 to 2020/21, by jurisdiction
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Office for National Statistics (UK), & Scottish Government, & Police Service of Northern Ireland. (November 19, 2021). Crime rate per 1,000 population in the United Kingdom from 2002/03 to 2020/21, by jurisdiction [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved January 25, 2022, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1030625/crime-rate-uk/
Office for National Statistics (UK), und Scottish Government, und Police Service of Northern Ireland. "Crime rate per 1,000 population in the United Kingdom from 2002/03 to 2020/21, by jurisdiction." Chart. November 19, 2021. Statista. Accessed January 25, 2022. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1030625/crime-rate-uk/
Office for National Statistics (UK), Scottish Government, Police Service of Northern Ireland. (2021). Crime rate per 1,000 population in the United Kingdom from 2002/03 to 2020/21, by jurisdiction. Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: January 25, 2022. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1030625/crime-rate-uk/
Office for National Statistics (UK), and Scottish Government, and Police Service of Northern Ireland. "Crime Rate per 1,000 Population in The United Kingdom from 2002/03 to 2020/21, by Jurisdiction." Statista, Statista Inc., 19 Nov 2021, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1030625/crime-rate-uk/
Office for National Statistics (UK) & Scottish Government & Police Service of Northern Ireland, Crime rate per 1,000 population in the United Kingdom from 2002/03 to 2020/21, by jurisdiction Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1030625/crime-rate-uk/ (last visited January 25, 2022)
