Spain's murder rate is second lowest in the EU, data shows

Interior Minister, Juan Ignacio Zoido, has revealed that the number of murders in Spain dropped below the "psychological barrier" of 300 per annum last year, the lowest since records began. In total, 292 people died this way in 2016, just over three per cent less than in 2015. Zoido described the result as "very positive" and explained that Spain has the second lowest murder rate in the EU after Austria, at 0.63 per 100,000 people.

This was "a huge achievement", according to the minister, who was speaking at the presentation of the 2016 crime statistics report in Seville.

Overall, crime in Spain fell 1.2 per cent in 2016. Malaga province had the sixth largest number of offences. Of the 78,365 reported crimes in the province, equivalent to 214 a day, only Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante and Seville had more, reflecting their larger populations.

Except in Madrid, which saw an increase of 2.5 per cent compared to 2015, and Malaga, where crime grew 2.7 per cent, all these other larger provinces reported a fall in their local crime numbers.