What’s the crime rate against Americans, British, and other expats in Portugal?
Duncan MacGregor - Duncan MacGregor Accounting
The crime rate in Portugal is probably the lowest in the world. Whatever crime exists in Portugal is mostly petty crime or drug-related. Some guy would break the window of a car to take a bag or whatever valuable thing he could find, for example, or some guys would break into a house and go after the TV of a Hi-Fi system. Most of the crimes here are non-violent crimes and more of petty crimes. I live in Cascais (a high end area about 30 minutes west...
The crime rate in Portugal is probably the lowest in the world. Whatever crime exists in Portugal is mostly petty crime or drug-related. Some guy would break the window of a car to take a bag or whatever valuable thing he could find, for example, or some guys would break into a house and go after the TV of a Hi-Fi system. Most of the crimes here are non-violent crimes and more of petty crimes. I live in Cascais (a high end area about 30 minutes west of Lisbon) and I do not worry at all about my safety here. This is one of the safest places in the world I’ve been in. I think read once that Portugal was in the Top 10 in safety, taking several factors into account such as police population, army population, etc.
It is very difficult to get a gun here in Portugal. The process to get a gun in Portugal is not as fast as it is in the UK, for example. We read and see horrific murders and shootings in the US and all we can say is, “Thank God we don’t live in a country like that.”
(Tile plague on Avenida Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales in Cascais, Portugal, pictured.)
Posted January 12, 2016
Marcia Schwuchow
I have been living in the Lisbon area countryside since 1983, the first ten years as a single woman living alone, and up to now have never felt unsafe. What exists in this area is mostly petty crimes of opportunity, eg. bags or cameras left in a parked car, or houses obviously unoccupied. (House outside of Lisbon, Portugal, pictured.)
I have been living in the Lisbon area countryside since 1983, the first ten years as a single woman living alone, and up to now have never felt unsafe. What exists in this area is mostly petty crimes of opportunity, eg. bags or cameras left in a parked car, or houses obviously unoccupied. (House outside of Lisbon, Portugal, pictured.)
Posted July 30, 2016