A total of 3,709 cases were recorded by police, including 559 offences that fall outside of the OSCE definition of hate crime and are not presented here. The cases reported include crimes where hate was identified as the underlying motive. In 2020, Sweden's National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå) used a different data selection methodology for hate crime statistics. Therefore, these statistics are not comparable with those submitted by Brå in previous years.
The prosecution figures show the number of prosecuted hate crimes as of May 31, 2023, of the hate crimes that were reported in 2020.
The breakdown below presents records referring to bias motivations and may include offences that fall outside the OSCE’s hate crime definition. A number of offences involved more than one bias motivation.
In 2022, the Swedish Police Authority worked to improve its capacity to address hate crime, launched social media campaigns related to hate crimes, established stronger links between the police and religious communities, and tightened co-operation with the municipal police and the Security Service as part of "Redex" – a network of regional intelligence-oriented teams tasked with reducing extremism by flagging individuals of interest in hate crime cases. The Police also co-operated as part of special councils aimed at exchanging information on hate crimes and building trust with victimized communities.
In November 2022, the Swedish Prosecution Authority (Åklagarmyndigheten) held a conference for specialized hate crime prosecutors from across the country to exchange experiences.
The Prosecution Development Centre issued guidelines on how to investigate hate crimes.
The Swedish Crime Victim Authority (Brottsoffermyndigheten) celebrated the International day of Crime Victims by highlighting new research in the area and providing in-depth knowledge about the situation and rights of crime victims, including hate crime victims. It also provided financial support to civil society organizations specializing in hate crimes.
The Public Health Agency of Sweden (Folkhälsomyndigheten) has launched research projects related to intersectional discrimination and hate crimes against members of victimized groups infected with HIV, bisexual people, members of the indigenous populations and national minorities.
The Living History Forum – a public agency established under the Ministry of Culture – continued to support the implementation of Sweden's "National plan against racism, similar forms of hostility and hate crimes" by co-ordinating the government's network of experts. The Police Authority, in co-operation with the Living History Forum organized an awareness-raising online seminar for police officers, focusing on anti-Semitic expressions and symbols. The Forum also ran research, educational (including with the Swedish National Agency for Education), awareness-raising and capacity-building projects.
The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SKR) continued to implement a programme on countering hate crimes and offering conflict management tools at a local level.
The National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) devoted its financial support to organizations that provide support to LGBTI people who have experienced intimate partner violence and undertake awareness-raising activities.
The Swedish Media Council (Statens Mediaråd) continued its awareness-raising efforts to prevent hate crimes.
The Swedish Agency for Support for Faith Communities (Myndigheten för stöd till Trossamfund), co-operated with the Swedish Police and Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) on community safety issues, and worked on projects to raise awareness of anti-Muslim hate.
The Swedish Defence Research Agency has been tasked with research on the prevalence of different forms of racism in digital environments in relation to Sweden. As of 2022, it has conducted a permanent survey and analysis of violent extremism and racism in digital environments.
This category includes the following grounds: (1) afro-phobic hate crime; (2) anti-Roma hate crimes; (3) hate crime against the Sami; and (4) other racist and xenophobic hate crime.
This category was reported on within the category “Racism and xenophobia”. Disaggregation by types of crime is not available.
Disaggregation by types of crime is not available.
Disaggregation by types of crime is not available.
"Homophobic" (206) and "transphobic" (92) hate crimes were reported separately but are presented together here. Furthermore, this category includes 97 other anti-LGBTI hate crimes, for which a more specific breakdown was not available.
This category includes unspecified bias motivations where it was clear that the offence constituted a hate crime, but the specific bias motivation could not be identified.
ODIHR recognizes Sweden's efforts to report its hate crime information to ODIHR. However, based on the available information, it observes that Sweden has not reported data on hate crimes recorded by the judiciary to ODIHR. ODIHR recognizes Sweden's efforts to address hate crime in a comprehensive manner. ODIHR's main observation on data collection will be added here after the data for 2022 is submitted to ODIHR in December 2023. Otherwise, ODIHR observes that Sweden has met most of its OSCE commitments on hate crime.
ODIHR recalls that in Ministerial Council Decision 9/09, OSCE participating States have committed to collecting reliable data and statistics in sufficient detail on hate crimes, and to reporting such data periodically to ODIHR. ODIHR stands ready to support Sweden in meeting the relevant commitments through the provision of its comprehensive resources and tailored assistance.
🛈 Please note that the total number of incidents may be lower than the sum of incidents presented in the breakdown chart above, as some incidents involve multiple bias motivations.
🛈 ODIHR no longer presents descriptions of property attacks in the incident tables below. Data on property attacks are presented in the breakdown charts above. One property attack may target multiple properties or involve multiple types of attack.