Police officers per 100,000 inhabitants in the EU
Topic: Living conditions
Per inhabitant, Cyprus has 4.1 times as many police officers as Finland.
In 2024, 24 of the 27 EU countries had a figure for the number of police officers. Each country's number is set against its population.
- Figures for:
- 2024.
- Covers:
- one day.
- New data:
- once a year.
- Dataset updated:
- 29 April 2026.
Published 13 November 2026
The ranking
In 2024, the number of police officers was highest in Cyprus, at 564.9 per 100,000 inhabitants, and lowest in Finland, at 139.4 per 100,000 inhabitants.
France, Italy and Lithuania have no value for this period.
Number of police officers, per 100,000 inhabitants
2024Over time
Between 2019 and 2024, the rate fell in 10 countries and rose in 14.
Number of police officers, per 100,000 inhabitants
2019 and 2024 · ranked by 2024About the data
The number of police officers per 100,000 inhabitants, counting the staff of public agencies whose main work is to prevent, detect and investigate crime and to apprehend alleged offenders, without support staff.
Eurostat: “Police Officers : Personnel in public agencies as at 31 December whose principal functions are the prevention, detection and investigation of crime and the apprehension of alleged offenders. Data concerning support staff (secretaries, clerks, etc.) are excluded.” (source)
Administrative data, the official figures of national authorities such as the police, the ministry of the interior or the national statistical office, reported every year to Eurostat, since 2014 in a joint data collection with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
How to read these numbers
How it is measured
Countries count their police in different ways. The organisation of the police differs between countries, and the figures come from each country's own administrative records. Eurostat warns that comparisons between countries can mislead.
Support staff such as secretaries and clerks are not counted. Countries' own notes describe what their figures include. Belgium counts only the operational staff of the local and federal police. France includes the local police. Germany counts civil servants in the police without trainees. Ireland includes the staff of Forensic Science Ireland. Liechtenstein counts full-time equivalent posts.
The figure is the number of police officers on 31 December, divided by the population on 1 January of the same year. Germany counts its police on 30 June and Iceland on 1 February. Estonia's figures for 2019 to 2022 are for 1 January of the following year.
Some EU countries have no value for the latest year. France's latest value is for 2022, Lithuania's for 2023 and Italy's for 2020. Italy also has no values for 2014, 2017 and 2018.
The dataset has no EU figure. Eurostat's own EU totals in Statistics Explained fill in a missing country with its last available year, and are not in the database.
Breaks in the series
Eurostat marks no breaks in this dataset. Latvia developed a completely new method of counting police officers, which counts only officers whose duties are closely related to combating crime, and its values are much lower from 2018. Switzerland counts only employees authorised to use police coercion since 1 January 2022. Values before and after such a change are not comparable.
Revisions
The rates of earlier years were computed with the population figures of their time. Several countries have revised their population figures since then. A change in the published rates over time can therefore differ from the change computed on today's population figures. Portugal has since revised its population figures for 2022 to 2024. Its rates for those years were computed with the earlier figures.
Sources and data
Eurostat, Personnel in the criminal justice system by sex (crim_just_job). Data updated 29 April 2026, retrieved 13 November 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.
Eurostat metadata · Eurostat methodology
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/api/dissemination/statistics/1.0/data/crim_just_job?format=JSON&lang=en&freq=A&geo=AT&geo=BE&geo=BG&geo=CY&geo=CZ&geo=DE&geo=DK&geo=EE&geo=EL&geo=ES&geo=FI&geo=FR&geo=HR&geo=HU&geo=IE&geo=IT&geo=LT&geo=LU&geo=LV&geo=MT&geo=NL&geo=PL&geo=PT&geo=RO&geo=SE&geo=SI&geo=SK&isco08=OC5412&sex=T&unit=P_HTHABReport an error: contact [at] civitascope.eu
Related stories
-
People at risk of poverty in the EU countries and regions
In Lithuania, 22.6% of people are at risk of poverty, against 9.6% in Czechia (2025)
-
Who cannot afford a week's holiday in the EU
In Romania, 61.4% of people live in a household that cannot afford a one-week annual holiday away from home, against 10.6% in Luxembourg (2025)
-
Who cannot afford meat, fish or a vegetarian meal in the EU
In Romania, 18.1% of people live in a household that cannot afford a meal with meat, chicken, fish or a vegetarian equivalent every second day, against 1.2% in Cyprus (2025)
-
Holidays of four nights or more in the EU
In Luxembourg, 75.2% of people aged 15 or over made a personal trip of four nights or more, against 12.5% in Romania (2025)