Crime has risen in Switzerland since 2022, led by a sharp increase in fraud, according to the Crime Survey 2025 by the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) and the University of St Gallen. Most people nonetheless still regard the country as safe.
Of those surveyed in 2025, 15.9% said they had been victims of fraud in the previous 12 months, up from 8.4% in the 2022 survey, ZHAW said on Thursday. Three-quarters of these offences took place online, including through social media.
Theft and sexual harassment increase
Property crime also rose. The share of respondents reporting the theft of personal belongings increased from 3% to 4.3%, while the proportion reporting theft from cars rose from 1.2% to 2.7%. Sexual violence showed no increase, but sexual harassment rose from 4.3% to 6.2%.
The proportion of victims reporting offences to the police was largely unchanged from the previous survey. Dirk Baier, who jointly leads the project, therefore attributes the rise in offences reported by respondents to an increase in crime, rather than a greater willingness to report it.
People feel less safe
The share of respondents who felt safe in their neighbourhood after dark fell from 87.6% in 2022 to 83.1% in 2025. Fear of becoming a victim of street crime also increased.
Meanwhile, 37.9% said the police presence was insufficient, up from 28.9% in 2022. Trust in the police nevertheless remains high, according to the study’s authors.
“We must take this trend seriously without overstating it,” said Nora Markwalder, the project’s other co-leader. “Although people feel less safe, they still regard Switzerland as a safe country.”
More on this:
ZHAW press release (in German)
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