Sweden

Is Sweden safe to visit?

Yes. Sweden had 84 confirmed cases of lethal violence in 2025, about 0.8 per 100,000 people and the lowest number since 2012, according to Brå, the national crime prevention council. Its roads are the joint safest in Europe. We score it 88. The catch, and the reason it sits below Norway, is gang violence: shootings and bombings between criminal networks in Stockholm, Malmö and Gothenburg. They make the news far more than their risk to visitors deserves, but they are real.

Gang shootings and bombings: what the numbers say

The Swedish Police count every confirmed shooting and explosion. In 2025 there were 158 shootings, in which 46 people died and 44 were hurt. That is well under half the 391 shootings of 2022, and the decline has continued: 61 shootings from January to September 2026, against 136 in the same months of 2025. The 2025 total includes the attack at the Campus Risbergska adult school in Örebro in February 2025, where 10 people were shot dead. Brå notes that this one attack accounted for almost a quarter of all firearm killings that year.

Bombings moved the other way in 2025. Police recorded 189 explosions, up from 136 in 2024, and also 240 cases where an attack was being prepared but stopped. Police call most of these "strategic" violence: a hand grenade or homemade bomb set off at a front door, flat or shop at night to scare or extort someone, not to kill. Young recruits hired by the networks carry out many of them. In 2026 the numbers have fallen sharply, to 76 detonations from January to September against 158 a year earlier.

What this means for a visitor:

• The violence is aimed at rivals, debtors and their families, and mostly happens in residential suburbs, not in city centres, hotels or tourist sights.
• Bystanders have been injured, so if police have cordoned off a street, go around it.
• 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 names Malmö, Stockholm and Gothenburg for gang crime, including knife crime. In practice that changes very little about where a visitor goes.

Terrorism

The US rates Sweden Level 2, increased caution, because of terrorism, 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 says terrorists are likely to try to carry out attacks, possibly in places foreigners visit. The security service Säpo raised the national threat level to 4 of 5 in August 2023 after Quran burnings drew threats against Sweden, and the FCDO notes that the authorities have since disrupted several planned attacks. Expect visible police at large events and transport hubs. Demonstrations are usually peaceful. Sweden ranks 40th on the 2026 Global Peace IndexGlobal Peace IndexAn annual ranking of 163 countries by how peaceful they are, based on conflict, crime, militarisation and political instability.More in the glossary, below its Nordic neighbours, partly because of the gang violence and rising military spending since joining NATO.

Pickpockets and petty theft

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 for passports and cash in Sweden's big cities. In Stockholm that means Central Station and T-Centralen, the Arlanda Express, the metro, and the narrow streets of Gamla stan in summer. In Malmö, watch bags at the central station and on Øresund trains to Copenhagen. Leave nothing visible in parked cars. Tourist scams are uncommon. Sweden is close to cashless, so carry a card with low fees and keep a second card separate.

Roads, winter and the north

Sweden counted 203 road deaths in 2025, about 19 per million people. That ties it with Norway as the safest in Europe, less than half the EU average of 43 (ETSC). Sweden's Vision Zero policy shows: two-plus-one roads with a cable barrier in the middle, low urban speed limits and dense speed cameras.

The extra risk for visitors is winter. 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 snow and ice cause accidents every day in winter. Winter tyres are compulsory from 1 December to 31 March when conditions require. Moose and reindeer on the road at dusk are a real danger in the north. Keep dipped headlights on at all times, and remember the drink-drive limit is 0.2 grams per litre.

Lapland and the mountains are where nature becomes the main risk. Parts of Sweden lie inside the Arctic Circle, and the FCDO notes that medical help and search and rescue are limited there. Temperatures can fall below -30°C in January. On the Kungsleden or in Abisko, carry proper layers, tell someone your route, and check mountain weather before you set out.

Health

Healthcare is excellent and tap water is safe. Call 1177 for medical advice in English, or 112 in an emergency. Ticks are common in grass and woodland from spring to autumn, and tick-borne encephalitis occurs in parts of the south and east, including the Stockholm archipelago. Check your skin after walks. In summer, mosquitoes in the north are a nuisance but carry no tropical disease.

How we scored it

Road safety (95) is Sweden's best factor, and health (90) and natural hazards (88) are strong. Conflict and terrorism (82) is the weakest, because of the terrorism advisories and the bombing wave, ahead of petty crime (80). Violent crime (88) is lower than the homicide rateHomicide 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 alone would suggest, because of the high share of gun killings. For a Nordic country with fewer of these problems, see Iceland; for a similar gang violence pattern, see the Netherlands.