Catalonia has become the epicenter of violent crime in Spain, with foreigners vastly overrepresented in serious offenses.
According to the Ministry of the Interior’s crime statistical portal for 2023, the ten Spanish cities with the highest rates of violent robberies and intimidation are all located in Catalonia, with Barcelona leading the list.
The Catalan capital, governed by Socialist mayor Jaume Collboni, recorded an alarming rate of 823.9 violent robberies per 100,000 inhabitants — six times the national average.
The province of Barcelona alone triples the national average for such crimes, with L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Sant Adrià de Besòs, and Badalona also ranking among the worst-hit areas. In stark contrast, Madrid, despite its significantly larger population of 3.2 million compared to Barcelona’s 1.6 million, recorded fewer violent robberies overall. At a comparative rate, Barcelona’s figure of 823.9 per 100,000 inhabitants dwarfs Madrid’s 266.6, making the Catalan capital the most dangerous major city in Spain.
According to OKdiario, the situation has become so dire that elderly residents of El Raval, one of Barcelona’s most crime-ridden neighborhoods, have effectively instituted a self-imposed curfew, avoiding the streets after 7 p.m. Even officers of the Mossos d’Esquadra have been advised to take extra precautions due to the sheer frequency of violent incidents.
Ignacio Garriga of the right-wing Vox party recently criticized Catalonia’s leadership in a parliamentary session, condemning what he described as failed immigration policies that have led to skyrocketing crime rates.
“While the birth rate is sinking, we are breaking records for homicides and rapes. We are the region with the most foreigners in prisons because of the immigration policies that you promote. You continue with ‘everything is fine.’
“Well, no. Nothing is going well in Catalonia and I demand that you treat Catalans like adults once and for all. End the policies that are condemning numerous Catalan economic sectors to ruin,” he said.
Remix News previously reported in November on statistics highlighting the extent of foreign overrepresentation in Catalan prisons. At the time, 50.48 percent of the inmate population comprised non-Spaniards.
However, when focused on specific violent offenses, the numbers are far higher. In cases of sexual assault and rape combined, 64.2 percent of those convicted are foreigners. When narrowed down to rape alone, 91.67 percent of inmates are foreign nationals.
The most disproportionately represented nationality in sexual assaults and rapes is Moroccan, followed by Colombian, Dominican, Senegalese, Pakistani, Ecuadorian, Romanian, and Algerian.
Out of 324 prisoners serving sentences for sexual offenses, 208 are foreigners. For rape, 22 of the 24 convicted inmates are of foreign origin.
