Check out these facts and figures on crime in general, and homicides in particular, in Norway during 2023 and how that compares with previous years.
While Norway continues to be one of the safest countries globally, an uptick in serious crime figures has sparked discussions on law enforcement, social issues, and preventive measures.
If you are a fan of Scandinavian crime fiction, you could be forgiven for thinking that the Nordic nations are a hotbed of homicide. But in actual fact, far more people get killed on the page than in reality.
That's not to say that the Norwegian police don't have to deal with the occasional murder. But even in the capital city, homicides are far from an everyday occurence.
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Types of crime in Norway
Digging into the crime figures in Norway reveals some interesting facts. For example, there are almost 200 police officers per 100,000 residents.
The police and prosecution authorities concluded investigations for just over 298,000 offenses in 2023, which is 6.6% more than the previous year. This includes 1% fewer solved crimes and 12.3% more unsolved crimes.
In total, 179,000 crimes were concluded in 2023 without sufficient information about the perpetrator, due to lack of evidence, or were otherwise deemed unsolved. This is the highest number in the last decade.
Petty crime such as theft makes up the biggest proportion of reported incidents. There were significantly more thefts, frauds, and acts of vandalism in 2023 than in 2022.
But the most surprising number, especially from an international perspective, is the murder rate.
Norway murder rate in 2023
Murder case statistics are released in an annual report from Kripos, Norway’s criminal investigation unit.
Last year, Norway registered 35 murder cases involving 38 victims, ten more than the average over the past decade.
But Norway is still a country with few murder cases compared to other countries.
To put the figure of 35 into perspective, Norway's population stands at around 5.5 million. The numbers have also remained relatively stable since the 1990s.
A recent Aftenposten report showed the murder rate of Norway has been roughly half that of Sweden since 2002.
The number is so low that Norwegian newspapers are able to print articles each year listing details of each and every murder.
Despite this, Sigurd Andreas Moe, head of the violent crime section at Kripos, highlighted a significant rise in murders and murder cases over the past two years.
More than half of the victims were killed by someone they knew intimately, and six out of ten perpetrators had prior convictions in Norway.
There is also a growing trend of older perpetrators, with around one-third aged 51 or older in 2023—a figure that has doubled compared to the ten-year average.
Additionally, there is a substantial increase in perpetrators over the age of 60.
Norway's murders in 2023
The most worrying trend in the statistics is the significant rise in partner murders. Most murders in Norway occur in private homes, with nine out of ten perpetrators being men.
Read more: Inside a Norwegian Prison
In 2023, 22 out of 38 victims were killed by someone in a close relationship, such as a partner, ex-partner, boyfriend, ex-boyfriend, child, parent, or another family member. This accounts for almost six out of ten cases.
Moe expressed particular concern about the increase in partner murders. The average number of partner murders in previous years was eight, but this number rose to 17 in 2023.
He emphasised that this alarming trend requires serious attention from both the police and society as a whole.
The Kripos report also shows that most people who commit murder in Norway are Norwegians. In 2023, 82% of the perpetrators had Norwegian citizenship. Of these, 14% again had a country of birth other than Norway. It is lower than the average for 2013-2022, which is 18 per cent.
Mental illness a factor in many murders
Homicide researcher and criminologist Vibeke Ottesen at the University of Oslo previously highlighted the need to look at the connection between mental illness and suicide and murder in close relationships.
“What makes parents extra vulnerable when it comes to adult children with mental illness is that they often live with them, but that they are not involved in any treatment program,” she said.
In July 2020, a 35-year-old mother in Lørenskog was charged with strangling her two children aged one and seven. The woman was hospitalized as she was critically injured when found. Since the incident, she has been judged criminally sane, and acknowledged what happened. Her lawyer said the woman had been deeply depressed for a long time.
In January 2020, a 34-year-old resident of an institutional home for those with substance abuse and psychiatric disorders was killed. A 42-year-old man with a connection to the institute was charged.
I live in Hot Springs Arkansas USA. I believe there are more murders in my city (population under 75,000) every year than there are in the entire country of Norway. If I lived 50mi northeast in Little Rock, Arkansas, there are more murders in three months than there are in a whole year in Norway.
Me too!! I live in Norway, and Im confused if There is any murders in My area.
In a country withouth a 2nd amendment “right”, I believe, has a lot to do with the low numbers. Also, when people care more about good paying jobs and no worries about how to pay for health care, everything becomes more stable. 5 weeks paid vacation from day one, no matter what company you work for. Paid sick days and I can go on and on. Oops, that’s what we call socialism here in the US. Our gun rights are more important than all of that. Are we just stupid or totally brain washed? We keep “shooting” ourselves in the foot at every election, especially so many people that really could use a break.
Yea, when you look at it the US can’t be called a top class society anymore. The extreme polarity in the society and a complete lack of empathy or respect for one another has done us in. And by the way I live in Philadelphia where our homicide numbers will outstrip the yearly numbers for Norway by the second week of January 2022!