Most criminal cities in Europe revealed as major UK city ranks second

Four other UK cities part of top 20 on the list

For 2026, Marseille in France received the highest Crime Index score, topping the list of cities with the highest perceived crime rates in Europe.

Nevertheless, according to experts, the ranking is based on the platform’s users’ assessments and reflects a subjective perception of safety levels.

This means that this is not exactly a list of official crime statistics.

As per the updated ranking, Marseille took first place in terms of crime rates among European cities, while a major UK city takes second place.

Second on the list is Birmingham, while Coventry also makes the top five.

A street in Marseille, France, the city which was ranked as most dangerous. Credit: Getty Images

It was the following factors which influenced most user ratings:

• Theft and robbery
• Drug trafficking
• Incidents of vandalism
• Organised crime activity in certain neighborhoods of the city.

The full list of most dangerous cities, as per Numbeo

• Marseille (France)
• Birmingham (UK)
• Grenoble (France)
• Naples (Italy)
• Coventry (UK)
• Montpellier (France)
• Lyon (France)
• Bradford (UK)
• Nantes (France)
• Liège (Belgium)
• Paris (France)
• Manchester (UK)
• Brussels (Belgium)
• London (UK)
• Nice (France)
• Athens (Greece)
• Malmö (Sweden)
• Odessa (Ukraine)
• Amadora (Portugal)
• Dublin (Ireland)

What readers must know however is that, while a city’s inclusion on this list is as a result of people’s votes, it does not mean that travelling there is dangerous.

While that ranking reflects users’ opinions regarding their overall sense of safety and crime levels, at the opposite end of the ranking are cities whose residents and tourists rated safety levels the highest.

Dutch football fans in The Hague watching the Netherlands take on Sweden during a FIFA World Cup game this year. Credit: Getty Images

Europe's safest cities in comparison

The Hague (Netherlands, Eindhoven (Netherlands), Munich (Germany), Zurich (Switzerland) and Bern (Switzerland) ranked among the safest.

Traditionally, these European cities rank highly thanks to their high level of public safety and comfortable living and travel conditions.

Numbeo has also emphasized that these lists are not based on official statistics from law enforcement agencies.

It is responses from platform users that contribute to the Crime Index, as the users assess their own sense of safety, the prevalence of various types of crime, and the overall crime situation in their city.