Domestic violence against minors has increased and there have never been so many crimes against sexual freedom and self-determination. With regard to crimes against people, it is necessary to go back to 2011 to find such high numbers. The only ones that dropped were crimes against pet animals
Police authorities recorded 371,995 crimes in Portugal during the year 2023. In isolation, the number doesn’t say much, but when compared with statistics from previous years, the picture is darker: crime not only increased compared to the year 2022 ( 343,845 crimes registered in Portugal that year), as it is necessary to go back to 2013 to find such high figures (the year in which the security forces registered 376,403 crimes).
More than half of the crimes recorded last year were crimes against property, such as fraud, robbery and theft – around 51% of the total crimes recorded (189,657 crimes) – but there are other data that draw attention if we look at the numbers for 2023 and compare them with statistics from the last 20 years. It is necessary, for example, to go back to 2011 to find so many crimes against people, a category that includes homicides, negligent homicides or attacks on physical integrity. In 2023, according to the most recent data from justice statistics, there were 90,840 crimes against people, 5 thousand more than in 2022 (85,841). The figure was not so high 13 years ago – in 2011, 91,381 crimes against people were recorded.
The most recent justice statistics, which bring together data from the Judiciary Police (PJ), Public Security Police (PSP), National Republican Guard (GNR), Food and Economic Security Authority (ASAE), Maritime Police, Military Judiciary Police ( PJM), Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) and Tax and Customs Authority (AT) – also show that there have never been so many crimes against sexual freedom and self-determination. In the category that includes sexual abuse of children or pornography of minors, the General Directorate of Justice Policy (DGPJ) reports 3,532 crimes registered in 2023. Looking at justice statistics up to 1993, there have never been so many recorded crimes in this category as last year.
According to the statistics now released, the crime of “domestic violence against spouses or similar persons” appears as one of the most frequent, with 26,041 crimes registered in 2023. The number is one of the highest in the last twenty years, only surpassed by the numbers slightly higher than 2022 – in that year, police authorities recorded 26,073 crimes of domestic violence.
But in this field there is another statistic that stands out: domestic violence against minors has increased. There were 964 crimes recorded in this category, compared to 819 in 2022, which represents an increase of almost 18%.
Another fact to highlight is that, contrary to what happens in all other categories, women are the main victims of crimes against people. They represent more than two thirds of the victims. There were 62,497 female victims in 2023, a number higher than in 2022 (60,173). 14,762 of the victims of these crimes against people are under 16 years of age.
Crimes against companion animals decrease
Statistics show that crimes against the State have also continued to increase. If in 2022 there were 6,593 crimes in this category, this value rose to 7,713 in 2023. There is no memory of a value as high as last year.
Looking at the numbers in detail, there is only one category in which the number of crimes reduced in 2023: crimes against companion animals. Last year, police forces recorded 1,729 crimes in this category, which represents a significant decrease compared to the 2,022 crimes recorded in 2022. The lowest number is from 2016 (1,623 crimes).
Crimes against companion animals represent 0.5% of total crimes. Crimes against property lead the way. Next are crimes against people, which represent 24.4% of the total, crimes against life in society (which represented 11.9% of the total – 44,439 crimes), 10% against cultural identity and personal integrity and 2 .1% against the State.
Domestic violence against spouses or similar persons is the most common crime in Portugal, followed by driving a vehicle “with an alcohol level equal to/above 1.2 g/l” (24,133 crimes), which narrowly exceeds the offense to physical integrity simple voluntary (24,111 records).
Justice statistics from 2023 also show that computer and communications fraud continues to grow. There were 20,159 such crimes in 2023, almost as many as motor vehicle thefts (20,180 records).
Where there is more crime
Justice statistics also give us a picture of crime by geographic area. Of the 371,995 crimes against people registered in 2023, 55,289 were committed in the Lisbon region area, 44,967 in the Porto area, 32,492 in the Lisbon West area. Faro appears in fourth place, with 26,098 crimes, and only after Lisbon North (with 20,525 records).
The same geographical order occurs in the category of crimes against people and in the category of crimes against property. In the first case, Lisbon recorded 10,907 crimes, Porto 10,796 crimes, Lisbon West 8,316 crimes, Faro 6,122 crimes and Lisbon North 4,571 crimes.
Of the 189,657 crimes against property registered in 2023, Lisbon leads the list with 32 thousand registered crimes, compared to the 28,686 registered in 2022. Next is Porto, with 25,913 cases, Lisbon West with 17,437 cases, Faro with 14,085 and Lisbon North with 10,529 records.
