The number of homicides in Sweden, which has struggled for years to curb -mainly- migrant gang violence, fell in 2024 to its lowest level since 2014, according to a report published today. 

This Nordic country of 10.6 million people recorded 92 cases of deadly violence in 2024, 29 fewer than in 2023, according to a report by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Bra).

“When making comparisons between years, it should be taken into account that 2023 was a year in which an unusually (sic) high number of women and minors were victims of fatal violence compared to previous years,” Jan Lundbeck, a statistician at Bra, said in a statement.

In recent years, Sweden has faced attacks with guns and explosive devices linked to gang conflicts.

The perpetrators are often young teenagers who are hired as killers because they are under 15, Sweden’s age limit for criminal responsibility.

Although armed assaults have declined, they remain the most common means of violence, with firearms used in 45 murders, eight fewer than in 2023, according to the report.

Swedish police also said in January that the number of gun assaults fell in 2024 for the second year in a row, with 296 such attacks, a 20 percent drop from the previous year.

Police attributed the drop to an improved ability to “prevent and deter” violent acts.

The right-wing government of Prime Minister Ulf Kristerson, backed in parliament by the Swedish Democrats, an anti-immigration party, came to power in 2022 promising to crack down on crime.

In early 2025, the country was rocked by the worst armed attack in its history: on 4 February, 35-year-old Rickard Anderson stormed the Campus Risbergska adult education center in the city of Örebro and killed 10 people before turning the gun on himself.