Country records highest number of hate crimes ‘since records began’
Justice Statistics show that authorities in Portugal recorded 421 crimes of inciting hatred in 2024, making it the year with the highest number of occurrences and highlighting a more than 200% increase in such crimes over the last five years.
Compiled by the Directorate-General for Justice Policy (DGPJ) by merging data from all police forces, these statistics show that crimes of discrimination and incitement to hatred and violence have increased every year since 2000 – the first year official statistics recorded these cases.
In that year, officials recorded three cases, in 2005 they recorded ten, in 2010 they recorded 15 and in 2015 they recorded 19.
Since then, authorities have recorded a steady increase, with 25 crimes in 2016, 48 in 2017, 63 in 2018 and 82 in 2019.
In 2020, statistics recorded 132 crimes of discrimination and incitement to hatred and violence, a figure that rose to 150 in 2021. The records show 270 incidents in 2022, 344 in 2023 and 421 in 2024 – the ‘highest figure since records began’.
The data shows that hate crimes skyrocketed between 2020 and 2024, seeing a 219% increase.
Today marks International Day for the Countering of Hate Speech (a day created in 2021) by the United Nations. In other words, it is the day everyone will be talking about this issue marking current times, fanned as it is over online social networks.
Source: LUSA
