According to new statistics from the Swedish Council for Crime Prevention (Brå), the number of serious assaults and sexual crimes in Sweden has decreased during the 2020s.
For example, the number of patients treated in inpatient care for violent injuries per 100,000 inhabitants between 2006 and 2024 has decreased by 67 percent.
At the same time, the 2025 national security survey shows that many Swedes are worried about being subjected to assault and sexual crimes.
One in four people say they feel unsafe outdoors in their own residential area late at night, and 17 percent of the women surveyed say they are worried about being subjected to sexual assault.
"Insecurity is a feeling influenced by many things besides actual crime. Many older people choose not to go out at night due to anxiety, even though they are the group least exposed to crime," says Sofie Lifvin, investigator at Brå.
Living with anxiety
Kristin Tollstedt is a psychologist with a special focus on anxiety issues. She shares Sofie Lifvin's view that anxiety is not always related to the actual danger of being exposed to crime.
"It is clear that we are overestimating certain risks," she says in writing to TT.
However, Tollstedt believes that we do not worry unnecessarily - because worry is part of the package that makes us human.
"It's probably not about getting rid of anxiety, but rather learning to live alongside it and, above all, not letting it dictate how we live our everyday lives."
So what is it that makes us worry about crimes that the vast majority of people will never be exposed to?
Tollstedt believes it is largely a result of exposure to crimes in the media.
"Our tendency to overestimate the risks of something dramatic that makes a strong impression in the media can outweigh actual statistics that show that that type of event is extremely rare. We may misinterpret the risk as higher than it actually is."
Less alcohol
Brå investigator Sofie Lifvin says that several factors are behind the decrease in certain crimes.
"Alcohol consumption has decreased, and certain types of assault are decreasing along with it. For example, aggravated assault among men has declined. There are fewer spontaneous fights in public," she says.
