Canada’s crime rate was down again in 2025, a trend nationally across almost all provinces and territories.
Statistics Canada released the 2025 police-reported crime statistics Wednesday (July 22), showing a decline in the crime severity index nationally and in most provinces and territories. The crime rate measures the number of crimes per 100,000 people, while the crime severity index measures the rate based on the severity of the crimes.
1 province, 1 territory report and increase in crime severity index
Nationally, the crime severity index is down 4.9 per cent. This was the second consecutive annual decrease after an upward trend that began in 2015. It decreased by seven per cent in 2024.
Manitoba reported the highest decrease at 8.8 per cent, while New Brunswick and Nunavut are the only provinces or territories to report an increase at 5.6 per cent and 9.5 per cent, respectively.
In B.C., it’s down 1.6 per cent. Alberta is down 6.6 per cent. In the territories, the Yukon is down 6.1 per cent and the Northwest Territories is down 7.5 per cent.
Breaking and entering, which is the most-severe property crime based on its weight in the index, had the largest impact on the national decline in 2025, Statistics Canada noted. It dropped 11 per cent with 109,753 incidents.
Statistics Canada said the rate of breaking and entering has been “steadily declining” over time, with the 2025 rate 41 per cent lower than in 2015 and 77 per cent lower than in 1998.
Police-reported crimes
The police-reported crime rate had a decrease of 2.4 per cent nationally. That’s compared to B.C., which reported an increase of 0.3 per cent, and Nunavut that reported an increase of 6.2 per cent.
Alberta’s police-reported crimes decreased by 0.7 per cent, Yukon decreased by 10.8 per cent and the Northwest Territories by 7.9 per cent.
Violent and non-violent crimes
Nationally, violent crime was down 4.2 per cent in 2025.
Alberta also reported a decrease of 5.5 per cent, along with the Northwest Territories with a 3.2-per-cent decrease. Manitoba and Prince Edward Island both had the biggest decrease at 10.5 per cent each.
That’s compared to B.C. which was up 2.2 per cent, the Yukon was also up at 5.8 per cent and Nunavut had an increase of 8.2 per cent. New Brunswick had the highest increase across the country at 8.9 per cent.
When it came to non-violent crime, it was down 5.3 per cent nationally.
Alberta once again beat the national rate at decrease of 7.1 per cent, along with a decrease of 11.3 per cent in the Yukon, and a decrease of 9.4 per cent in the Northwest Territories. B.C. had a decrease as well, but it was less than the national at 3.2 per cent.
Nunavut reported an increase at 10.6 per cent. New Brunswick was the only other jurisdiction to report an increase at four per cent.
Youth crime rates
The Yukon and the Northwest Territories blew past the national rate at a decrease of 15.6 per cent and 21.7 per cent, respectively. Rounding out the territories, youth crime was down 6.2 per cent.
B.C. and Alberta’s youth crime rates also decreased by 1.5 per cent each.
Across Canada, it was down 3.8 per cent.
Case processing impacts child sexual abuse and exploitation material investigations
Statistics Canada says that the police-reported rate of child sexual abuse and exploitation material is down for the second consecutive year, but that reporting is impacted by case processing and investigate complexity.
In 2025, it was down 21 per cent with 15,075 incidents. There had been a sharp increase at 54 per cent in 2023.
Statistics Canada says the drop was the second-largest contributor to the decrease in the crime severity index, but it notes that the police-reported incidents of child sexual abuse and exploitation material (formerly known as child pornography) undercount how often these crimes occur in Canada.
Homicides across the country
Homicides were down 16 per cent in 2025 compared to the year prior. There were 672 homicides across the country, 125 fewer than the year before.
When it comes to gang-related homicides, nationally there was a drop to 119 homicides in 2025 compared to 155 in 2024.
Statistics Canada says Indigenous people continue to be disproportionately victims of homicides.