Half of Last Year's Crimes Concentrated in the Seoul Metropolitan Area... Jeju Has the Highest Incidence per 100,000 People

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Last year, the number of crimes committed nationwide was highest in Gyeonggi-do with approximately 350,000 cases, but the crime rate per 100,000 people was highest in Jeju-do, which attracts many tourists.

According to the '2021 Crime Statistics' released by the National Police Agency on the 14th, the total number of crimes committed domestically last year was 1,429,826. The "crime rate," which refers to the number of crimes per 100,000 people, also decreased to 2,768.9 cases from 3,063.7 cases the previous year. The most common type of crime was intelligent crime, with 361,107 cases. The crime rate for this category was 699.3 cases. This was followed by traffic crimes (308,534 cases, crime rate 597.7), violent crimes (232,661 cases, 450.6), and theft crimes (166,409 cases, 322.3).

The number of crimes committed last year decreased by about 10% compared to 1,587,866 cases the previous year. Among major crime types, intelligent crimes (15.0%), traffic crimes (11.5%), and violent crimes (12.5%) saw significant decreases, and overall crime rates dropped due to reductions in serious crimes (7.6%) and theft crimes (7.3%). Looking at trends over the past five years, the number of crimes has steadily decreased from 1,662,341 cases in 2017. The crime rate also declined annually from 3,210 cases in 2017 to below 3,000 cases last year.

The number of arrests was 1,136,665 cases, and the number of people arrested was 1,247,680, representing 79.4% of the total crimes committed. Both the number of arrests and arrestees have generally decreased over the past five years, which is attributed to the overall reduction in crime occurrences. By crime type, intelligent crimes showed an increasing trend and peaked in 2020 with 279,050 cases and 307,706 arrestees. However, last year, the number of arrests (215,471 cases) and arrestees (210,381 people) sharply decreased. Although the number of crimes also declined, this is believed to be due to the time-consuming nature of investigations and arrests for such cases. This also indicates that crimes such as fraud have become more sophisticated.

By region, the metropolitan area including Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon, which have large populations, recorded the highest number of crimes. Gyeonggi had 357,243 cases, Seoul 257,969 cases, and Incheon 76,584 cases, together accounting for half of all crimes nationwide. Outside the metropolitan area, Busan had the highest number with 100,439 cases, followed by Gyeongnam with 87,879 cases, Daegu with 67,915 cases, and Gyeongbuk with 87,879 cases. Sejong and Jeju, which have smaller populations, recorded the lowest numbers with 5,937 and 25,515 cases respectively among local governments nationwide.

However, when converted to crime rates per 100,000 people, the results differ. Jeju was the only region exceeding 3,000 cases with a rate of 3,770.2. This is interpreted as reflecting regional characteristics such as a higher actual population due to tourists compared to residents, and a higher proportion of traffic crimes including rental car accidents. Following Jeju, Busan had the second highest rate at 2,997.8 cases. Gyeonggi and Seoul had rates of 2,633.5 and 2,712.8 cases respectively.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.