A 2021 report which looked at the crime rate in Malaga found in general the crime rate has decreased. There have been fewer car thefts, robberies, and burglaries with intimidation and violence, however, there has been an increase in offences of attempted murders and of a sexual nature.
The figures which were published by the Ministry of the Interior show there were 49 sexual assault cases with penetration compared to 42 two years prior. This signifies an increase of 16.67 percent. Generally, however, there were 5.15 percent fewer crimes recorded in the year before the pandemic, the figures fell from 80,174 to 76,049. The biggest drop was in burglaries. In addition, there were fewer robberies, vehicle thefts, and other forms of theft with intimidation and violence.
Along with sexual crimes, offence that went up in the two years were related to freedom, integrity, and life of persons, as in 2021, the figures increased by 6.14 percent to a total of 1,143. There was a considerable increase in this category, particularly in attempted murder and intentional homicides from 24 cases to 48, and there were also more kidnappings – 13 in 2021 compared to 11 in 2019. This was an increase of 18.18 percent.
It is worth noting that the amount of intentional homicides carried out over these two years decreased by 40 percent and there were a total of 15 cases last year. The report on crime also shows a rise in drug trafficking offences in Malaga over these two years. In 2019, there were 1,005 cases and two years later, in 2022, there are 1,078 cases. This was an increase of 7.26 percent.
