Come to Norway ... The New "Rape" and "Sex" Crime Capital of Europe

Victims of different types of violence

Statistics Norway

On the question of whether they have been subjected to violence or threats of 

violence in the last year, around 5 per cent reply that they have – and this percentage has been stable in the last 20 years. Men and women appear to have 

about the same risk of becoming a victim of violence, and it is the youngest 

ones who most often state that they have been a victim of violence or threatsof violence. Women are to a greater extent than men exposed to violence in 

intimate relationships and in their local environment. Men are more often the 

victims of violence in the evenings and weekends, by more and less unknown 

assaulters, and in public areas.

Police reports also show that the youngest age 

group of boys and girls is most vulnerable. However, in the age group 19-24, twice as many acts 

of violence are reported against men compared 

with women.

With regard to victims of reported offences, men 

make up a far larger percentage of those subjected to wounding or inflicting bodily harm (85 per 

cent) than the less serious assaults (64 per cent) 

and threats (53 per cent). Conversely, women 

are strongly over-represented among victims of 

ill-treatment within family relations (84 per cent) 

and sexual crimes (86 per cent). Almost half 

(46 per cent) of all murder victims from 1999 to 2008 were women.

Rape on the increase

During the 1980s, there was an increased public focus on sexual assaults, as 

well as a gradual increase in the number of rapes being dealt with by the legal 

system. During this decade, the number of rapes that were investigated and 

concluded almost tripled. Despite changes in the registration practice and the 

extended definition of rape in the new General Civil Penal Code of Norway of 

2000 affecting the statistics, we can state that the number of reported rapes 

has increased further: the number of reported rapes to the police in the last 

three years has more than doubled since 1993-1995. In 2008, approximately 

120 cases of attempted rape and 940 rapes were reported to the police.

Women still more afraid

Far more women than men are afraid of being subjected to violence where 

they live: in 2007, the percentage was 11, compared with 3 per cent of men. 

Younger women in particular feel anxious about being a victim of violence; 

in the age group 16-24 the figure is 15 per cent, compared with 4 per cent of 

young men. 

The fact that women, to a greater extent than men, are the victims of violence 

in their immediate surroundings, may partly explain why many more women 

than men say that they feel threatened in their local environment. The differences, however, are considerable, and the share of women who fear violence and threats is much higher than the percentage of women who are actually subjected to them. The greatest difference between the risk of being a victim and the extent of the fear can be found among the oldest women. Conversely, young men are the most frequent victims of violence but are much less worried by it.

Statistics Norway

34 Sanctions in crime cases, by group of crime and citizenship. 2009

Citizenship1	Total2	Economic crime	Other crime of profit	Crime of violence	Sexual crime	Crimes of narcotic	Damage to property, crime	Other crime3
All citizenships	29 759	1 358	7 093	5 059	724	12 862	836	1 827
Europe, total	27 668	1 324	6 754	4 702	656	11 878	799	1 555
Norway	24 529	1 190	5 532	4 357	614	10 713	726	1 397
Denmark	206	12	35	28	2	114	4	11
Finland	40	5	13	6	-	12	2	2
Iceland	33	3	-	7	1	19	2	1
Sweden	429	24	84	65	4	216	18	18
Albania	40	-	20	2	3	6	-	9
Bulgaria	31	1	11	1	2	12	-	4
Estonia	46	6	25	3	-	10	1	1
France	61	-	14	2	1	39	5	-
Italy	32	-	1	5	1	22	2	1
Latvia	53	4	25	7	-	13	3	1
Serbia and Montenegro	81	6	23	19	3	21	1	8
Netherland	86	-	8	2	4	67	2	3
Poland	444	26	184	61	4	145	8	16
Romania	430	15	346	5	-	40	5	19
Lithuania	401	3	300	24	4	54	6	10
Spain	47	1	3	2	-	40	-	1
United Kingdom	178	5	22	15	1	127	2	6
Russia	149	8	44	36	3	41	7	10
Turkey	52	3	7	13	4	18	-	7
Germany	103	5	10	7	2	67	1	11
Ukraine	17	-	5	6	-	5	1	-
Hungary	13	2	1	1	-	9	-	-
Bosnia Herzegovina	29	2	8	10	-	7	-	2
Serbia	27	-	13	3	-	5	2	4
Rest of Europe	111	3	20	15	3	56	1	13
America, total	186	2	54	35	8	79	2	6
United States	45	0	8	7	0	29	-	1
Chile	69	1	33	7	3	22	-	3
Rest of America	72	1	13	21	5	28	2	2
Asia, total	743	24	139	167	39	243	16	115
Afganistan	102	1	7	22	7	25	6	34
Sri Lanka	31	1	5	11	-	6	2	6
Iraq	280	7	55	68	20	90	8	32
Iran	92	2	19	16	1	40	-	14
Pakistan	61	7	13	10	4	20	-	7
Vietnam	33	-	8	5	2	18	-	-
Rest of Asia	144	6	32	35	5	44	-	22
Africa, total	1 071	8	137	141	20	605	19	141
Algeria	106	-	25	13	2	61	-	5
Eritrea	37	-	5	7	1	2	1	21
Ethiopia	27	-	4	8	1	7	-	7
Gambia	48	-	5	1	-	37	-	5
Ghana	29	1	3	2	-	18	-	5
Liberia	30	-	5	2	1	16	1	5
Libya	31	-	1	2	-	27	-	1
Morocco	57	-	14	4	1	35	1	2
Nigeria	159	2	7	5	2	107	1	35
Somalia	328	1	35	62	10	180	13	27
Rest of Africa	219	4	33	35	2	115	2	28
Oceania	9	-	-	1	-	4	-	4
Stateless	79	-	9	11	1	52	-	6
Unknown	3	-	-	2	-	1	-	-

1	Citizenship is specified if 25 sanctions or more.
2	Including 29 sanctions against firms.
3	Including 37 sanctions for environment crimes, of which 29 sanctions given persons with Norwegian citizenship.

Explanation of symbols

---

2010 © Statistics Norway