According to the 18th edition of AD’s annual crime monitor, Misdaadmeter, Amsterdam is once again the most dangerous municipality in the Netherlands, with the highest crime rates. Dinkelland in Twente is the safest.

Crime rates in the Netherlands

In order to rank municipalities according to safeness, the AD crime monitor looks at 10 different types of crimes and offsets them against the number of residents. The crimes, such as domestic burglary, assault, pickpocketing and robbery, carry different weights depending on the impact they have on the victim.

In 2018, the number of crime reports submitted to the Dutch police decreased by six percent compared with the previous year. Domestic burglaries went down by 13 percent and the number of victims of pickpocketing dropped by 28 percent. There was also an 18-percent drop in thefts from garages and sheds. Despite this decrease in certain types of crimes, robberies increased by four percent and muggings only saw a reduction of two percent.

Amsterdam is the most dangerous municipality

In Amsterdam, as in the rest of the country, the number of domestic burglaries and reports of pickpocketing decreased. However, the number of robberies rose from 184 in 2017 to 226 in 2018, an increase of 23 percent. The number of victims of muggings also went up to 1235. These crimes have a greater impact on victims than, say, pickpocketing, and this is the reason why Amsterdam is still number one on the list of the most dangerous municipalities.

Close to Amsterdam, and catching up in terms of crime, is Diemen, which rose from 26th place in 2017 to 8th last year. Diemen experienced an upsurge in the number of burglaries, mainly due to a gang of burglars who were active at the start of 2018. The number of burglaries, however, diminished once the gang was caught.

Top 10 most dangerous Dutch municipalities

Eindhoven comes in second according to the crime monitor, with more robberies than last year. Three of the other four municipalities in Limburg that made the top 10 also experienced a rise in robberies.

The top 10 most dangerous Dutch municipalities are:

1. Amsterdam
2. Eindhoven
3. Rotterdam
4. Heerlen
5. Maastricht
6. The Hague
7. Sittard-Geleen
8. Diemen
9. Roermond
10. Schiedam

Safest municipalities in the Netherlands

The safest municipality in the Netherlands is Dinkelland. This municipality in Twente only had one mugging, two car thefts and no robberies in 2018. The top 10 safest municipalities in the Netherlands are:

1. Dinkelland
2. Olst-Wijhe
3. Dalfsen
4. Lopik
5. Staphorst
6. Vijfheerenlanden
7. Loppersum
8. Tubbergen
9. Wierden
10. Borsele