Burglary attempts rise to over 7,200 in four months, with success rate nearing 8 in 10
The number of burglaries has been rising in the Netherlands, with the thieves becoming increasingly successful over the years. In 2020, a burglary attempt in the Netherlands succeeded in about seven out of ten cases. In 2025, that rose to nearly eight out of ten, according to figures that comparison site Independer obtained from the police via the Open Government Act (Woo).
However, according to AD, in 2 out of 10 cases where the burglars were not able to get away with loot, they had already started the crime, for example, with a crowbar or by climbing in through an open window, but it ultimately did not do anything.
Overall, in the first four months of the year, police received more than 7,200 reports of a burglary or attempted burglary. That exceeds sixty per day. In the same period last year, there were fewer than 6,700.
Municipalities such as Hulst and Noord-Beveland stand out: there, all burglary attempts succeeded last year. On the other end are Scherpenzeel and Neder-Betuwe in Gelderland, where burglars most often leave empty-handed: only about half of attempts succeed.
It is not that burglars have found entirely new ways to do their “work,” advisor Dominique Storimans from the Centre for Crime Prevention and Safety (CCV) told AD. It is also because “we” are at home less often, she says.
“In 2020, everyone worked from home. If someone is at home, a burglar is more likely to move on to the next house,” Storimans says. In 2023 the ‘success rate’ had already increased slightly because working from home was no longer the standard. Now we are home even less often, so burglars are even less often "disturbed while they are at work," as Storimans puts it.
Attention to security measures—from effective locks to leaving a light on—has also declined somewhat recently, the CCV advisor observes. A possible reason: there are still far fewer burglaries than in the years before 2020; criminals have shifted their focus to the digital world.
Additionally, not every municipality is equally attractive to burglars, according to police figures. In Laren, 28 burglaries were recorded per thousand homes; in De Bilt, 27; and in Bloemendaal, 25—all municipalities with relatively expensive housing. Aalten, outside the Wadden area, is the municipality with the fewest burglaries: two per thousand homes. However, nine out of eleven burglary attempts were “successful.”
