The number of rape suspects in Austria has more than doubled since 2015, with foreign nationals — and Syrians in particular — driving a disproportionate share of the increase. In addition, foreigners nare now responsible for nearly half of all rapes, a major increase from 2015 as well.
The figures, provided by Austria’s Interior Ministry in response to a request by Austrian newspaper exxpress, paint a striking picture of a decade-long trend.
The composition of those suspects has shifted markedly. In 2015, 250 of the 688 suspects were foreign nationals — 36.3 percent of the total. By 2025, that number had risen to 538, representing 46.9 percent of all suspects, despite foreign nationals making up only 20.5 percent of Austria’s population.
Reported rapes under section 201 of the Austrian criminal code rose from 826 cases in 2015 to 1,359 in 2024 — an increase of roughly 64.5 percent. The number of suspects rose in parallel, from 688 to 1,196.
Preliminary figures for 2025 show a slight decline to 1,147 suspects, but that still represents an increase of around 66.7 percent compared to 2015.
Austrian suspects also increased over the same period, from 438 to 609 — a rise of 39 percent. Foreign suspects, however, rose by 115 percent, more than doubling. The gap between the two trends has widened significantly over the decade.
Approximately 7 to 8 percent of Austrian citizens have a foreign background. It remains unclear what percentage of this population has committed crimes like rape since Austria does not release that statistical information. Austrian suspects are recorded simply as “Austrian” regardless of migration background — country of birth and parental origin are not captured.
Syrians now the largest group
Syrians are at the top of the list in terms of rape suspects. In 2015, just three Syrian suspects were registered for rape. By 2024, that number had reached 92, and in 2025 it climbed further to 101 — making Syrians by far the largest single group among foreign suspects. Roughly one in five foreign rape suspects is now Syrian.
Other nationalities with consistently elevated figures include Afghanistan, which has registered around 50 cases annually for several years, as well as Turkey and Romania.
The Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) has voiced concern about the limitations of Austria’s data collection. The data also does not break down perpetrators with full asylum and those with subsidiary protection status. As mentioned, the status of those Austrians with a migration background is also not captured.
FPÖ parliamentarian Christian Lausch, who has spent decades working as a prison guard at Vienna’s Josefstadt prison, notes that the absence of this vital data makes it harder to assess the true reality of rape in Austria
“Then you cannot work on the problems,” he said.
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