New official data reveals that London has achieved a historic milestone in public safety, with its homicide rate falling to the lowest level per capita since records began.
Record-Breaking Decline in Serious Violence
Figures published on 12 January 2026 show there were 97 homicides in London during 2025. This represents an 11% year-on-year drop and is the lowest total number of killings since 2014, despite the city's population growing by more than half a million people in that time.
When adjusted for population size, the rate stands at just 1.1 homicides per 100,000 people. This places the UK capital significantly below other major global cities, including New York (2.8), Berlin (3.2), Toronto (1.6), and far below Philadelphia (12.3) and Chicago (11.7).
Mayor Khan's Strategy and Political Pushback
London Mayor Sadiq Khan expressed frustration with narratives that paint the city as unsafe, stating the evidence tells a very different story. "Many people have been trying to talk London down," he said, "but the results speak for themselves: fewer lives lost, fewer families shattered."
He attributed the progress to a dual strategy of being "tough on crime and tough on the complex causes of crime." This includes the Metropolitan Police's use of technology like facial recognition and targeted crackdowns on gangs, which Mr Khan claims is leading to an extra 1,000 arrests per month.
The positive data comes just days after Reform UK's mayoral candidate, Laila Cunningham, claimed that "London, one of the greatest cities on Earth, is no longer safe." Mayor Khan's comments are seen as a direct rebuttal to such claims.
Sustained Efforts Behind the Statistics
Beyond policing, London's Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) played a key role. Its director, Lib Peck, highlighted that the unit carried out over 550,000 targeted interventions in 2025 to prevent young people from being drawn into gangs and violence.
Further successes noted in the data include:
- The lowest murder rate for those aged under 25 this century.
- One of the lowest absolute numbers of homicides in almost three decades.
- A 95% solve rate achieved by Met Police detectives for homicides last year.
While celebrating the progress, both Mayor Khan and Lib Peck acknowledged that more work is needed to ensure Londoners not only are safe but also feel safe, challenging online narratives that often distort the reality.
"Every murder is a tragedy," Mr Khan concluded, "but we will continue to use every tool at our disposal to drive down serious violence. This work will not stop, and neither will our determination to keep Londoners safe."
