A “most dangerous city for pickpockets” list usually cannot tell an individual visitor their chance of theft. The headline may mix different crimes, places, years and reporting practices. Eurostat's official crime data are useful for understanding recorded trends, but they are not a trip-level probability calculator.
What the official figures do measure
Eurostat's crime statistics report offences recorded by police. In its April 2026 update, Eurostat says EU police-recorded theft fell 2.0% in 2024 versus 2023. That is an EU-level change in recorded thefts. It does not say what happened to pickpocketing at a particular railway station or the risk for a traveler in 2026.
Eurostat also publishes regional police-recorded offences. A region is not necessarily the same as a tourist destination, and “theft” is broader than theft from a tourist's bag. The regional dataset metadata says comparisons across countries are affected by legal definitions, police recording systems and the share of incidents reported.
Five checks for any city-theft ranking
- Crime type: Is it theft, robbery, burglary or a narrower pickpocket category? They are not interchangeable.
- Area: Does “Paris” mean the municipality, a wider region or a national total? A transport hub and an entire region have different exposure.
- Year: Is the figure current enough for the claim? A 2024 police total is not a live 2026 risk forecast.
- Denominator: Is it a raw count, per resident, per visitor, or per trip? Even a population-normalized rate is not automatically a visitor rate.
- Reporting: Do police definitions and reporting rates differ between places? Eurostat warns that they do, so a simple cross-country league table can mislead.
Use data for the question it can answer
For a specific trip, read current destination advice and local transport guidance alongside any long-run statistics. For example, the UK government's France advice identifies Paris Métro, RER lines and mainline stations as places where thieves and pickpockets operate and gives concrete carrying advice. That is more actionable for a Paris station transfer than an unsupported “Europe's worst city” ranking.
A bag choice can support better habits: choose a closure you will actually use, keep it in view, and separate important items. The city-trip checklist explains those decisions. No bag or city ranking can guarantee safety.
Sources, checked 2026-09-28: Eurostat crime statistics (2024 data, April 2026 release), regional data metadata, and FCDO France advice.