Crime in Russia by Year: Full Statistics and Charts
· Social status and standard of living of the population of Russia
In 2024, Russia registered 1,911.3 thousand crimes. In 2019, it was 2,024.3 thousand, i.e. over six years the total number fell by 5.6%. Behind this almost flat line a structural shift hides: thefts lost a third, robberies and raids fell by more than half, and fraud rose by 73% and took up almost a quarter of all crime. Rosstat data.
Below are the full series by type of crime, the composition of those detected, separate juvenile crime, and answers to frequent questions about how these figures are calculated.
Number of Crimes in Russia: Table by Year
Crimes registered, thousands.
| Year | Total | Theft | Fraud | Drugs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 2,024.3 | 774.2 | 257.2 | 190.2 |
| 2020 | 2,044.2 | 751.2 | 335.6 | 189.9 |
| 2021 | 2,004.4 | 733.1 | 339.6 | 179.7 |
| 2022 | 1,966.8 | 697.6 | 343.1 | 177.7 |
| 2023 | 1,947.2 | 583.3 | 433.7 | 191.0 |
| 2024 | 1,911.3 | 499.6 | 445.7 | 198.0 |
The overall series looks dull: 2.02 million in 2019, a peak of 2.04 million in 2020, then four consecutive years down to 1.91 million. The difference between the worst and best year is less than 7%. The full series for all crime types is available in the dataset.
The interesting part starts when the total figure is broken down into parts.
Theft and street crimes: a halving
Theft remains the most common crime in the country, but its share is rapidly melting. In 2019, thefts accounted for 38.2% of all recorded crimes, in 2024 already 26.1%.
Robberies and raids, i.e., open attacks on the street, fell even more sharply.
| Type | 2019 | 2024 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Theft | 774.2 | 499.6 | −35.5% |
| Robbery | 45.8 | 17.6 | −61.6% |
| Raid | 6.7 | 2.8 | −58.2% |
| Intentional severe bodily harm | 21.5 | 15.3 | −28.8% |
| Murder and attempted murder | 7.9 | 6.7 | −15.2% |
Pure street crime has almost disappeared from the statistics. In 2024, robberies were recorded at 17.6 thousand across the whole country, raids at 2.8 thousand. For comparison: in 2019, there were almost 46 thousand robberies alone.
Three explanations are usually given for this shift: cameras and facial recognition on the streets, cashless payments (there is hardly anyone left to take cash), and the overall aging of the population. It is not possible to verify each with Rosstat data, but the direction raises few doubts.
Fraud: the only type that is growing
Over six years, fraud added 188.5 thousand cases per year, from 257.2 to 445.7 thousand. This is a growth of 73.3% against a backdrop of declining all other crime.
The share of fraud in the total number of crimes rose from 12.7% to 23.3%. Every fourth registered crime in the country today falls under this category, and almost half of all crime (49.5% in 2024) is accounted for by theft and fraud together.
The fraud line is read together with another figure on the site: internet access in the same years reached almost all households, and together with it the area where such a crime is possible grew. Details are in the article "How many Russians use the internet".
Drug crimes over the same period hardly moved: 190.2 thousand in 2019 and 198.0 thousand in 2024, fluctuations within 10%.
Who commits crimes
The second Rosstat dataset counts not crimes but people: how many individuals were identified in a year.
Here the decline is much more noticeable than in the crimes themselves. In 2019, 884.7 thousand people were identified, in 2024 – 666.3 thousand, a drop of 24.7%.
| Year | Total, thousand | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 884.7 | 742.2 | 142.5 |
| 2020 | 852.5 | 716.2 | 136.3 |
| 2021 | 848.3 | 710.6 | 137.7 |
| 2022 | 819.0 | 685.5 | 133.5 |
| 2023 | 750.5 | 624.2 | 126.3 |
| 2024 | 666.3 | 545.6 | 120.7 |
Women among those identified became relatively more numerous: 16.1% in 2019 versus 18.1% in 2024. The absolute number of women fell by 12.5%, men by 26.5%.
The gap between the number of crimes and the number of identified people is widening: 1.91 million crimes and 0.67 million people in 2024. The reason lies in the structure. Fraud, which drove the increase, is uncovered much less effectively than burglary, and remote schemes often do not lead to a specific suspect at all. The composition of identified persons by gender, age and education is available on the dataset page.
Age
Number of identified persons by age groups, thousand people.
| Age | 2019 | 2024 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14–15 | 13.8 | 6.8 | −50.7% |
| 16–17 | 24.2 | 14.3 | −40.9% |
| 18–24 | 134.7 | 89.1 | −33.9% |
| 25–29 | 134.9 | 74.2 | −45.0% |
| 30–49 | 472.0 | 385.7 | −18.3% |
| 50 and older | 105.1 | 96.2 | −8.5% |
The younger the group, the stronger the decline. Youth aged 25–29 lost 45%, teenagers 14–15 lost half, and the 50+ group barely moved. As a result, the main age group became even more prominent: people aged 30–49 account for 57.9% of all identified versus 53.4% in 2019.
Part of this is explained by demographics. The generation born in the nineties is small, so any of its indicators mechanically decline. Age cohorts by year are broken down in the article "Age composition of the Russian population" (/blog/vozrastnoy-sostav-naseleniya-rossii).
Employment and education
Of the 666.3 thousand identified in 2024, 404.8 thousand had no regular source of income. That is 60.8% versus 63.8% in 2019. Formally, only 1.6 thousand people are recognized as unemployed: the difference between “no regular income” and “unemployed” is essential here, the latter category requires registration with the employment service.
Higher education was held by 83.0 thousand people, 12.5% of those identified. Secondary vocational education – 240.3 thousand, 36.1%.
Adolescent crime
A separate dataset counts minors.
| Year | Crimes, thousand | Including serious | Identified adolescents, thousand |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 41.6 | 10.1 | 38.0 |
| 2020 | 37.7 | 9.8 | 33.6 |
| 2021 | 31.9 | 9.1 | 29.1 |
| 2022 | 30.5 | 9.3 | 26.3 |
| 2023 | 27.3 | 9.4 | 22.3 |
| 2024 | 26.3 | 10.5 | 21.1 |
The number of crimes committed by minors fell by 36.8%, the number of adolescents themselves in the statistics fell by 44.5%. At the same time the amount of serious and especially serious crimes did not drop at all: 10.1 thousand in 2019 and 10.5 thousand in 2024.
Their share grew from 24.3% to 39.9%. Adolescent crime became less frequent, but within it severe episodes now account for almost twice the weight. Convicted persons aged 14–17 in 2024 were 10.8 thousand versus 15.6 thousand in 2019. The series on minors are available in a separate dataset.
Questions and Answers
How many crimes are committed in Russia per year?
According to Rosstat, in 2024 there were 1,911.3 thousand crimes registered. That is about 5.2 thousand per day across the country.
Is crime rising in Russia?
The total number of registered crimes has been decreasing for the fourth consecutive year, from 2,044.2 thousand in 2020 to 1,911.3 thousand in 2024. Fraud, however, is increasing: plus 73% over six years.
Which crime is the most common in Russia?
Theft. In 2024 there were 499.6 thousand cases, 26.1% of all registered crimes. In second place is fraud, 445.7 thousand and 23.3%. The gap between them narrows each year.
Why are there fewer identified offenders than crimes?
Because these are different units of accounting. A crime is registered as an event, and a person enters the statistics only after being identified. In 2024, 666.3 thousand identified persons corresponded to 1.91 million crimes.
Where do these data come from?
Primary accounting is carried out by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Rosstat publishes the summary series in the collection "Social Position and Standard of Living of the Population of Russia". Crime indicators among minors are supplemented by data from the Judicial Department of the Supreme Court.
Briefly
Crime in Russia over six years fell by 5.6% in the number of offenses and by 24.7% in the number of identified persons. Within the overall series there was a reversal: physical crime (thefts, robberies, raids) contracted by one and a half to two times, while remote crime grew by three quarters.
Crime among the young decreased the most. Among adolescents the number of episodes fell by a little more than a third, but serious crimes remained at the same level, and their share rose from a quarter to forty percent.