Foreign nationals have accounted for more than 80 per cent of people convicted of theft in Switzerland in 2025, according to the federal criminal-judgment statistics published on October 8.
The Federal Statistical Office recorded 7,956 convictions for theft. About 1,500 of those convicted were Swiss and the rest, more than four in five, held a foreign passport.
The figures were reported on October 8 by Swiss media, who noted that the incoming autumn with earlier darkness means more residential burglaries.
Algerian and Romanian nationals were the most frequently recorded. About two-thirds of those convicted were not part of the permanent resident population.
The category of theft ranges from a stolen bicycle to a blown cash machine. Nationality has been broken out by offence only since 2024.
The office counted 111,962 adult convictions in all last year. Of the 38,406 handed down under the Criminal Code, about 48 per cent were for property offences.
Across all offences the picture is different. Swiss nationals were still the largest group convicted, 12,819 of them, ahead of Algerians on 1,962.
French and Italian nationals figure heavily in serious traffic offences.
The office publishes a conviction rate against the size of each nationality in the permanent population. The Aargauer Zeitung reported the highest rates for Congo, Angola, Somalia and Algeria.
Dirk Baier, a criminologist at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), told SRF the theft figures split into two groups: Asylum seekers, “in a situation in which they have no prospects and little money”, and “criminal tourists”, who come “because they know things are not well secured and people are not careful”.
He said theft was often underestimated and that property offences made up about two-thirds of the crimes logged in police statistics.
The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) said only a small minority of asylum seekers offend.
The Confederation and the cantons have set up a task force on repeat offenders, and the Federal Council has said it plans further tightening of the asylum procedure.
In the municipality of Porrentruy in the Swiss Jura, foreigners are no longer allowed in the outdoor pool after a series of incidents. https://t.co/gap5jMIPGA
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) July 7, 2025
