The number of reported crimes in Catalonia in the first half of this year fell by 7.4% compared to the same period last year. This is confirmed by the statistics just released by the Ministry of the Interior after collecting data provided by all police forces. The decrease in Catalonia is greater if only conventional crime is taken into account. In this case, the drop is 9%.
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These latest official data contrast with the growing perception of insecurity caused by some very violent incidents that have taken place in various Catalan cities in recent months.
Even without counting the records from this summer, it is observed that in the first six months of 2026 the number of homicides and completed murders increased by 16%, rising from 25 to 29. This figure is largely offset in the overall count by the sharp drop in thefts, the most common criminal offense, estimated at 14.6%. A total of 68,767 were reported, almost 12,000 fewer than last year.
This almost generalized decrease has another negative counterpoint regarding sexual crimes and, very particularly, reported rapes. Between January 1 and June 30 of this year, there were 937, 3.7% more than in the same period of 2025. Other crimes that are especially concerning, those related to drug trafficking, experienced a slight decrease of 2%.
The Ministry of the Interior’s data reveal that this decrease in the number of registered criminal offenses in this first half of the year is a trend in the vast majority of the main Catalan cities.
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Thirteen of the 15 most populated municipalities show decreases in the number of known conventional crimes. Curiously, the most notable drop occurs in Manresa (14.6%), precisely the city where the homicide of a resident on September 1, after the celebration of the correfoc of the main festival, has opened a poisoned debate about citizen insecurity.
The decrease in conventional crimes (excluding cybercrime, which in the whole of Catalonia increased by 1.4%) is a trend in the city of Barcelona (-11.3%), l’Hospitalet de Llobregat (-12.0%), Badalona (-11.8%), Terrassa (-3.0%), Lleida (-4.3%), Tarragona (-5.6%), Mataró (-2.5%), Santa Coloma de Gramenet (-9.8%), Girona (-11.4%), Sant Cugat del Vallès (-6.5%), Cornellà de Llobregat (-9.3%) and Sant Boi de Llobregat (-5.7%).
In this list of the 15 main cities of Catalonia, the only exceptions in this first half of 2026 balance are Sabadell, with an increase in known conventional crime of 1.9%, and Reus, with a rise of 9.1% compared to the same period in 2025.
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