These are Finland’s most unsafe cities

One of them has shown a sharp increase in reported crimes in the past year

The Finnish National Police Board released its annual ranking of crime and disturbance rates in the country’s cities, which shows that the level of safety has deteriorated somewhat in the past 12 months.

"Since the Covid years, security has taken a significant turn for the worse," Inspector Vesa Pihajoki of the National Police Board told Yle.

The ranking shows which cities have reported the most crimes and disturbances. That annual list, that the police compiles has been called the “disturbance index”, which has stayed fairly steady in terms of classification during the past several years.

According to said index, the top 3 most unsafe cities in Finland are Helsinki, Vantaa and Tampere.

Population increases lead to a surge in disturbances

While the first two municipalities have regularly featured at the top, which is fairly easy to explain due to them forming part of the Helsinki metropolitan area, the largest population centre in Finland, the appearance of Tampere at the third spot is somewhat odd.

Tampere, which had usually demonstrated fairly stable rates of crime throughout the years, has shown the largest increase among Finnish cities in the past year.

"Perhaps one of the reasons is the rapid growth of the city: this year, more than 5,000 new residents have arrived, last year more than 4,000," noted Jouni Perttula, Tampere's Risk Management and Safety Director. He added that the City is working closely with the police and many other organisations to help improve the situation.

Another reason proposed for the uptick in disturbances in that city was the holding of large-scale public events.

The police record homicides, assaults, sexual offences, and vandalism in public places as part of the population-based disturbance index. These, however, are considered the symptoms of societal illnesses, whereas the reasons for them to manifest most often hide in triggers such as alcohol and drug abuse, as well as mental health issues.