Stockholm

Is Stockholm safe?

Yes. A visitor's realistic risk in Stockholm is a phone lifted in a crowd, not violence. Brå, the national crime prevention council, counted 19 cases of lethal violence in the Stockholm police region in 2025, about 0.7 per 100,000 people and the lowest rate in years. The roads are the safest of any big city we track, and the air is close to the WHO guideline.

The reason Stockholm makes international news is gang violence: shootings and bombings between criminal networks, mostly in suburbs. It is real, but it is aimed at rivals, not at people in Gamla stan. We score Stockholm 87, just above Copenhagen (86), whose gangs now hire Swedish teenagers for attacks across the bridge.

Gang shootings and bombings in Stockholm

Swedish police publish confirmed shootings and explosions by police region every month. The Stockholm region, which covers Stockholm county and Gotland, had 69 of the country's 158 shootings in 2025, with 12 people killed and 18 injured. That is far fewer than in the worst years, and the fall has continued: 26 shootings and 6 deaths in the region from October 2025 to September 2026.

Bombings follow the same pattern. Police counted 37 detonations in the region in the 12 months to September 2026, plus many more attacks that were prepared but stopped. Police link most of them to criminal networks. The targets are now mostly blocks of flats, and police say the aim is often to frighten rather than to injure.

Lethal violence tells the same story. Brå's figures for the region:

Where it happens matters more than the totals. In its 2025 review, the police list 65 "vulnerable areas" across Sweden where criminal networks have a strong hold on daily life; in Stockholm they include Rinkeby, Tensta and Hjulsta in the north-west. These are residential suburbs at the end of the blue metro line, not places on a tourist route. The UK FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary says gang-related crime, including knife crime, shootings and explosions, has been reported in Malmö, Stockholm and Gothenburg, but it does not advise against travel. Read the Sweden page for the national numbers.

The 2017 Drottninggatan attack

Stockholm's worst terrorist attack came on 7 April 2017, just before 3 p.m. Rakhmat Akilov hijacked a lorry and drove it for about 40 seconds down Drottninggatan, the pedestrian shopping street, before crashing into the Åhléns department store. Five people were killed and ten injured. In June 2018 the Stockholm district court found him guilty of terrorist crimes, five murders and 119 attempted murders and sentenced him to life in prison.

The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary says terrorists are likely to try to carry out attacks in Sweden, and that attacks could be indiscriminate.

Pickpockets, the metro and nights out

Theft has fallen sharply. Police in Stockholm county recorded about 2,440 thefts per 100,000 people in 2024 and 49 robberies per 100,000, against 3,810 and 131 in 2019 (Eurostat). That is still a lot of theft, and the FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary warns that pickpockets target tourists in Swedish cities for passports and cash. Take most care where crowds gather: the central station and T-Centralen, the narrow streets of Gamla stan in summer, the shopping streets and full metro carriages.

At night, most of central Stockholm is calm. In the EU's 2023 survey 82% of residents said they feel safe walking alone at night in the city and 87% in their own neighbourhood, far above Rome or Naples. Nightlife streets get loud near closing time at weekends. Take a taxi from a rank or book one through an app rather than getting into a car that approaches you.

Roads, air and weather

Stockholm recorded about 6 road deaths per million people in 2025, the lowest of 29 cities in a comparison by Hong Kong's Transport Department, below Tokyo and Berlin. As a pedestrian, watch for cyclists and e-scooters on shared paths.

The air is very clean: IQAir measured 5.3 µg/m³ of fine particlesPM2.5Tiny airborne particles 2.5 micrometres across or smaller. They reach deep into the lungs and are the air pollutant most linked to early death.More in the glossary in 2024, close to the WHO guideline. Tap water is excellent. In the archipelago from spring to autumn, ticks can carry tick-borne encephalitis, so check your skin after walks in long grass.

Winter brings ice and only about six hours of daylight in December. Wear shoes with grip, and use the metro rather than cycling on icy days.

How we scored it

Traffic safety (95) and health (93) are Stockholm's strongest factors. Violent crime (86) sits in the rubric's 1–4 homicides per 100,000Homicide rateThe number of people killed on purpose each year for every 100,000 residents. It is the most comparable crime figure between countries.More in the glossary band on a five-year average, with points off for the region's shootings and bombings even though the 2025 rate was 0.7. Walking at night (86) follows the EU's 2023 survey of residents, which we use for every European city. Theft (76) is the weakest factor, because theft is still common and pickpockets go where the tourists are.