In England and Wales there were approximately 342,343 shoplifting offences recorded by the police in 2022/23, compared with 275,076 in the previous reporting year. Between 2002/03 and 2012/13, shoplifting offences in England and Wales fluctuated between around 280,000 and 320,000 annual offences. From 2013/14 onwards, shoplifting offences began to increase, and reached a peak of around 382,650 in 2017/18, before beginning to decline again in subsequent years. The 2020/21, and 2021/20 reporting years are not directly comparable to the other reporting years due to COVID-19 lockdowns that occurred at that time.
Areas with the highest shoplifting rate
As of 2022/23, the shoplifting rate for England and Wales as a whole was 5.7 shoplifting offences per 1,000 population. Looking at individual police force areas, the area covered by Cleveland Police Force, in North East England, had the highest shoplifting rate of 13, followed by Nottinghamshire, at 10.9. By contrast, Surrey's Police Force Area had the lowest shoplifting rate of just 3.3 offences per 1,000 population. Although Cleveland also had the highest overall crime rate in England and Wales, and Surrey had one of the lowest, Nottinghamshire's crime rate was slightly below the overall average, despite having such a high shoplifting rate.
Comparisons with other theft offences
Shoplifting is one of the major sub-categories of theft in the jurisdiction of England and Wales. Although shoplifting offences have increased slightly in recent years, the number of theft offences overall has been falling. In 2002/03 for example, there were approximately 3.41 million incidences of theft, compared with just 1.72 million in 2022/23. This trend has been driven by declines in other types of theft, such as burglary which fell from over 890,000 offences in 2002/03, to around 275,900 in 2022/23.
Number of shoplifting offences in England and Wales from 2002/03 to 2022/23
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Number of recorded offences
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Office for National Statistics (UK). (July 20, 2023). Number of shoplifting offences in England and Wales from 2002/03 to 2022/23 [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved July 22, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/303563/shoplifting-in-england-and-wales-uk-y-on-y/
Office for National Statistics (UK). "Number of shoplifting offences in England and Wales from 2002/03 to 2022/23." Chart. July 20, 2023. Statista. Accessed July 22, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/303563/shoplifting-in-england-and-wales-uk-y-on-y/
Office for National Statistics (UK). (2023). Number of shoplifting offences in England and Wales from 2002/03 to 2022/23. Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: July 22, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/303563/shoplifting-in-england-and-wales-uk-y-on-y/
Office for National Statistics (UK). "Number of Shoplifting Offences in England and Wales from 2002/03 to 2022/23." Statista, Statista Inc., 20 Jul 2023, https://www.statista.com/statistics/303563/shoplifting-in-england-and-wales-uk-y-on-y/
Office for National Statistics (UK), Number of shoplifting offences in England and Wales from 2002/03 to 2022/23 Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/303563/shoplifting-in-england-and-wales-uk-y-on-y/ (last visited July 22, 2024)
Number of shoplifting offences in England and Wales from 2002/03 to 2022/23 [Graph], Office for National Statistics (UK), July 20, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/303563/shoplifting-in-england-and-wales-uk-y-on-y/