- Numbeo’s Crime Index is based on user surveys, scaled 0–100, and reflects perceptions of crime and safety rather than official statistics.
- Bradford, UK is the most dangerous city in Europe according to the latest mid-2025 crime rankings.
- At the country-level, France has the most cities in the top 30.
Where do European’s feel the least safe?
To answer this question, we visualized the results of Numbeo’s Crime Index, which reveals how people perceive safety in their own city as of mid-2025. Unlike official crime statistics, this index reflects public sentiment through crowdsourced surveys.
Numbeo’s City Crime Index uses a scale from 0 to 100, based on residents’ self-reported experiences and perceptions. The survey covers various aspects of crime, including:
- General perception of crime levels
- Perceived safety during day and night
- Concerns about specific crimes (mugging, robbery, car theft, physical attacks, etc)
- Severity of property crime (burglary, theft, vandalism)
- Severity of violent crime (assault, homicide, sexual offenses)
As mentioned above, higher values indicate a stronger sense of insecurity among residents. Here’s how to interpret the scores:
- Very Low Crime: 20 and below
- Low Crime: 20.01-40
- Moderate Crime: 40.01-60
- High Crime: 60.01-80
- Very High Crime: above 80
According to the mid-2025 rankings, the top five most dangerous cities in Europe are Bradford, Marseille, Coventry, Birmingham, and Naples.
Four of the top five cities — Bradford, Coventry, Birmingham, and London — are located in the United Kingdom. Bradford leads the list with a Crime Index of 67.1, the highest in Europe.
One area of concern is rising knife crime. In the year ending March 2024, there were roughly 50,500 offences involving a knife in England and Wales, up notably from 33,800 in 2011.
Under current UK laws, individuals must be at least 18 years old to purchase a knife.
France
France accounts for seven of the top 10 entries, including Marseille, Grenoble, Montpellier, Nantes, Paris, Lyon, and Nice. Despite their cultural and economic prominence, these cities report strong local concerns about petty theft, vandalism, and other poverty-related issues.
Marseille, in particular, remains associated with organized crime, while Paris struggles with perceptions of street crime in tourist areas.
What the Crime Index Really Measures
It’s important to remember that these are the most dangerous cities in Europe according to citizen perceptions, not official crime data. Factors such as media coverage, visible disorder, and local socioeconomic conditions can all influence these scores.
Still, perception plays a major role in shaping city reputations, affecting tourism, investment, and migration decisions across Europe.
Credit: Visual Capitalist
