TIRANA, Feb. 3 – In global social media, where news on crime related to Albania is bad, a rare statistics-based good news item is circulating – Albania’s low robbery rate makes it the safest country in Europe.
Robbery is defined as stealing from someone using physical force, a weapon or a threat.
Eurostat tracks robberies per 100,000 inhabitants per year, and Albania comes up on top of EU and EU candidates with a low score of three, according to Eurostat’s 2019 data.
By comparison, the worst performers in Europe are Belgium and Spain at 140.
Eastern Europe in general does well, with Hungary and Slovakia scoring at 6 and 8. Neighbors Kosovo and Montenegro also do well at 11 and 15. North Macedonia is at 20 while Greece at 40.
Petty crime in general in Albania is at a lower level than the rest of the continent and crime against foreigners in Albania very rare, according to several reports over the years.
While there is plenty of violent crime in Albania, it is typically associated with organized crime and revenge violence, and is usually targeted not random.
