Police: Dutch home burglaries rise to 10,000 in first half of 2026

Dutch police recorded about 10,000 residential burglaries in the first half of 2026. That is a slight increase from roughly 9,800 in the same period last year, marking the first rise in years after a long downward trend. More than half of Dutch provinces saw higher numbers, including Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland, and Drenthe.

The largest absolute increase occurred in the Gelderland municipality of Nijmegen. Burglars struck there about 150 times in the first six months of 2026. That compares with around 100 times in the first half of 2025.

Flevoland and Limburg were among the provinces with notable decreases. Flevoland’s burglaries fell by nearly a quarter, driven mainly by a sharp drop in Almere.

The overall increase reverses years of decline before the Covid-19 pandemic. The only recent uptick came in 2022, after a historic low in 2021, when the Covid-19 restrictions were in place.