Belfast council area. Every figure carries its own date.
Belfast
Recorded crime and population
A larger population can mean more recorded offences even when the number of offences per resident falls. Read the total and the rate together.
A checked recorded-crime total and matching population rate for this exact council area are not available in this collection yet. The local mapped records below remain a separate measure.
Can we test the population theory over 30 years?
Only where the offence definitions, recording practices and area boundaries are comparable. Changes in reporting, police recording and the types of crime matter too. We do not join incompatible series or invent missing years.
PSNI national long-run index verified; district workbook/coverage not verified. No mapped Police.uk substitute.
A comparable 30-year crime-and-population trend has not been established for this area.
For example, if offences rose by 10% while population rose by 20%, offences per resident would fall by about 8%. This is an illustration, not a finding about this area.
People commuting or visiting can also affect offences recorded in a place. The resident population is a useful common denominator, but does not count everyone present.
What could help? Follow the types and locations of repeated problems, check residents’ experiences, and assess the response. Area population totals do not identify who commits offences.
Police-recorded locations for Belfast local authority area. Locations are approximate; these are not all crimes or a measure of personal risk.
31,176 mapped crimes
September 2025 to August 2026. Compared with 30,944 in the previous 12 months. Anti-social behaviour is counted separately.
Mapped crime over time
September 2024 to August 2026
Belfast local authority area · mapped crimes
Reviewed figures: September 2024 to August 2026. This reviewed record covers fewer than 30 years, so the chart opens on all of it.
Shown on this chart: 2,583 mapped crimes in September 2024; 2,920 mapped crimes in August 2026. These are recorded counts; check the coverage notes before comparing periods.
2.3k2.6k3k
September 2024August 2026
The line joins consecutive published observations.
Hover or tap the chart for a value. Use the date slider with touch or arrow keys. Escape closes the chart label.
Monthly crime and anti-social behaviour
Recorded locations by month · Belfast
Month
Mapped crime
Anti-social behaviour
September 2024
2,583
1,333
October 2024
2,680
1,224
November 2024
2,709
1,012
December 2024
2,601
1,017
January 2025
2,429
966
February 2025
2,420
1,009
March 2025
2,717
1,286
April 2025
2,478
1,202
May 2025
2,613
1,350
June 2025
2,456
1,250
July 2025
2,688
1,341
August 2025
2,570
1,369
September 2025
2,378
1,101
October 2025
2,630
1,259
November 2025
2,551
984
December 2025
2,563
906
January 2026
2,388
963
February 2026
2,356
1,024
March 2026
2,536
1,238
April 2026
2,498
1,173
May 2026
2,784
1,339
June 2026
2,736
1,322
July 2026
2,836
1,415
August 2026
2,920
1,234
Crime categories in the latest complete year
September 2025 to August 2026 · Belfast
Category
Mapped crimes
violent crime
13,415
criminal damage arson
4,060
shoplifting
3,515
other theft
3,146
drugs
2,871
vehicle crime
888
burglary
855
other crime
848
possession of weapons
538
robbery
344
public order
283
bicycle theft
256
theft from the person
157
What these numbers include
Approximate published locations, not every crime or personal risk.
Anti-social behaviour is separate. Transport police and records without usable locations are excluded.
Do not compare directly with Scottish council-level recorded crime totals.
These are retrieved mapped records, not a guarantee of complete crime reporting. Approximate locations and unmapped incidents limit comparisons.
Publication history: Police Service of Northern Ireland: Crime data not provided for September 2024. The force will provide a data refresh as soon as possible. Later update: Police Service of Northern Ireland: Crime Data refreshed from January - May 2025, January to December 2024 and August to December 2023.
Publication history: Police Service of Northern Ireland: Crime data not provided for March 2025. The force will provide a data refresh as soon as possible. Later update: Police Service of Northern Ireland: Crime Data refreshed from January - May 2025, January to December 2024 and August to December 2023.
Publication history: Police Service of Northern Ireland: Crime data not provided for April 2025. The force will provide a data refresh as soon as possible. Later update: Police Service of Northern Ireland: Crime Data refreshed from January - May 2025, January to December 2024 and August to December 2023.
Publication history: Police Service of Northern Ireland: Crime data not provided for May 2025. The force will provide a data refresh as soon as possible. Later update: Police Service of Northern Ireland: Crime Data refreshed from January - May 2025, January to December 2024 and August to December 2023.
Missing ward-months invalidate totals and changes. Busy centres attract visitors, so residential population is not a measure of the number of people exposed.
