Hate crime in the UK - Statistics & Facts

In recent years, the United Kingdom has seen a surge of hate crime offenses, particularly in England and Wales, where police forces reported 124,091 hate crime incidents in 2020/21, an increase of around 81.8 thousand when compared with 2012/13. In Scotland and Northern Ireland, hate crimes in 2020/21 were also higher than in 2019/20, although the increase in these countries is less dramatic than in England and Wales. Across police forces in England and Wales, the Metropolitan Police in London reported the highest number of hate crimes, with 24,291 hate crimes reported in the UK capital in 2020/21.

Racism fuels the most common type of hate crime

The police in England and Wales recorded several different types of hate crime, with race hate crime being by far the most common offense. In 2020/21, there were 92,052 racist hate crime incidents, with hate crimes based on a person's sexual orientation being the second-most common type of hate crime, at 18,596 offenses. Disability hate crime in this year amounted to 9,943 incidents, while hate crimes motivated by someone's religion reached 6,377 incidents. Hate crimes against transgender individuals were the least common type of hate crime at 2,799 incidents, but this is nonetheless a significant increase when compared to the 313 incidents in 2011/12. There are similar categories of hate crime in both Scotland and Northern Ireland, with the police in Northern Ireland also recording sectarian hate crime as an additional category, with 943 sectarian incidents reported in 2020/21.

Metropolitan Police record the most incidents

Due to the large population that the Metropolitan Police are responsible for policing, this police force reported the most hate crime incidents of almost every category in 2020/21. During this reporting year, there were 20,068 race hate crimes, 2,928 sexual orientation hate crimes, 1,856 religious hate crimes, and 289 transgender hate crimes reported in Greater London. There were also 735 disability hate crimes in this year, although West Yorkshire Police reported more incidents at 937 in 2020/21, the only cateogory where more crimes took place in a police force outside of London.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Statista Research Department, May 30, 2023

Key insights

Number of hate crimes in England and Wales 2021/22
155,841
Number of hate crime charges in Scotland
5,738
Number of hate crimes in Northern Ireland 2021/22
2,236
Get more insights

Editor’s Picks Current statistics on this topic

Number of police recorded hate crimes in England and Wales in 2021/22, by police force area

Violent Crime

Number of hate crimes in England and Wales in 2022, by police force area

Number of police recorded racial hate crimes in England and Wales from 2011/12 to 2021/22

Violent Crime

Number of racial hate crimes in England and Wales 2011-2022

Number of police recorded sexual orientation hate crimes in England and Wales from 2011/12 to 2021/22

Violent Crime

Number of sexual orientation hate crimes in England and Wales 2011-2022

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