The number of crimes in Malaysia has been decreasing since 2009

The number of crimes in Malaysia was at an all-time high in 2009, with 212,678 cases. Property crime in that year was recorded at 170,313 cases, while violent crime was 42,365 cases.

The most common property crime was motorcycle theft (61,394 cases), while the least common was lorry/van theft at 5,524 cases.

For violent crime, rape and murder cases in that year were at 3,840 and 601 respectively.

Despite reaching its all-time high in 2009, the number of recorded crimes in the country decreased over the following years.

Compared to 2009, Malaysia witnessed a reduction of more than half the number of crimes in 2017, with 99,168 recorded cases.

In 2017, the number of motorcycle theft plummeted to 31,577 cases, while the least common property theft was snatch theft with 240 cases. Whereas, the number of snatch theft incident in 2009 was at 9,739 cases.

Meanwhile, rape and murder cases in 2017 have plunged to 1,835 and 379 accordingly. This showed a sign of improvement, but the number of such crime remains high.

Based on location, Klang Valley was the area with the highest recorded crime in 2017. Selangor had 26,069 cases, while Kuala Lumpur had 13,482 cases.

Besides Selangor, the only state which reached five-digits in the number of crimes was Johor with 11,307 cases.