Which European countries have the lowest and highest reported rape rates in 2024?
Executive summary
Official 2022–2024 data compilations and media fact‑checks show that countries in Northern Europe and the United Kingdom figure among those with the highest reported rape rates per 100,000 inhabitants, while several Southern and Central European states appear among the lowest — but experts and the UNODC caution that these cross‑country comparisons are inherently unreliable because of differing legal definitions, recent law changes and vast variation in reporting practices [1] [2]. Any ranking of “highest” and “lowest” reported rates therefore describes differences in recorded, not necessarily actual, prevalence [2].
1. The headline: who shows up at the top and bottom of published lists
Public data compilations that draw on UNODC and Eurostat figures — and the widely circulated WorldPopulationReview/UNODC‑based charts debunked by DW and Reuters — place the United Kingdom (England and Wales) among the countries with the highest police‑recorded rape rates per 100,000 inhabitants in recent years, while countries such as Spain, Greece and Germany show much lower reported rates on the same charts [1] [2]. Eurostat’s published country breakdowns of “rate of reported sexual violence” for 2022 (repackaged by Statista) provide the underlying police‑record counts used in many rankings, even if those numbers are not directly comparable across legal systems [3].
2. Why Nordic countries also often rank high in reported rates
Sweden, Denmark and Finland frequently appear near the top of prevalence lists in both recorded statistics and victimization surveys: Sweden’s historical high recorded rate was driven in part by a much broader legal definition of rape adopted in 2005 and subsequent increases in reporting and recording practices, and Nordic countries featured prominently in the EU FRA victimization survey results cited in literature [4] [5]. Recent moves in several countries to adopt explicit consent‑based definitions of sexual offences (Denmark, Spain, Finland in the 2020–2023 period) have also produced apparent jumps in recorded figures that reflect legal change and improved reporting rather than sudden surges in offending [6].
3. The methodological caution: numbers reflect recording, not a single reality
Multiple authoritative fact‑checks emphasize the limits of cross‑national comparison: UNODC itself advises against direct country‑to‑country comparison because legal definitions, police recording rules, cultural barriers to reporting, and the existence of victimization surveys vary widely and distort rankings [2]. DW’s fact check of viral graphics showing the UK as “rape capital” exemplifies how accurate raw figures can mislead when the context of definitions and reporting behaviour is omitted [1].
4. What “highest” and “lowest” therefore mean in practice
In practice, labeling a country as “highest reported” means its criminal justice system records more incidents per capita — which can result from broader legal definitions, active reporting campaigns, easier reporting mechanisms, or greater public trust in police — while “lowest reported” can signal under‑reporting, narrower legal definitions, or different recording conventions as much as it signals lower incidence [4] [6] [2]. Reported low rates in some southern and central European countries cited in media graphics reflect those reporting and definitional differences rather than definitive evidence of less sexual violence [1] [3].
5. How to read any 2024 headline ranking responsibly
Responsible reading of 2024 rankings requires checking the data source (UNODC, Eurostat, national police), the year and whether the figure is police‑recorded offences or a victimization survey, and whether the country has recently changed its legal definition of rape or recording practices; fact‑checkers Reuters and DW both stress that headlines claiming a single country is “the worst” or “the best” are misleading without that context [1] [2]. The best supported empirical claim from the reviewed reporting is that the UK and some Nordic states consistently rank high on reported rates, while Spain, Greece and Germany have appeared lower on comparable charts — but that pattern chiefly reflects differences in law and reporting [1] [3].