Knife killings down by 21%, figures show

Killings involving a knife or sharp instrument fell by 21% last year, according to figures from police forces in England and Wales.

It comes after official data previously showed that homicides had fallen to their lowest level in nearly 50 years.

Crime statistics published on Thursday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed 172 homicides involving a knife or sharp instrument were recorded by police forces in 2025, compared with 217 in 2024.

Last year's number of knife-related killings is also the lowest since comparable data was first collected in 2010-11.

The dataset also shows that the total number of homicide offences last year - when there were 503 offences - fell by 6% compared with 2024, when there were 534.

Homicide offences includes murder, manslaughter, infanticide and causing or allowing the death or serious injury of a child or vulnerable adult, according to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Overall recorded knife-related crime also fell by 10% in 2025, compared to 2024, with 49,151 offences.

More than a quarter (28%) of knife-related offences were recorded by the Metropolitan Police, although it saw a 17% fall in recorded knife crime compared with the previous year.

Katie Kempen, chief executive of charity Victim Support, said the overall fall in knife killings was welcome "but every case is one too many".

She added: "Behind every statistic is a person deprived of their life, and countless friends and family trying to come to terms with the horror of losing their loved one."

Offences involving firearms also decreased by 9% in 2025 compared to the previous year, with 4,753 offences compared to 5,241.

To build a bigger picture of crime in England and Wales, the ONS also referred to estimates from its annual crime survey in the new dataset.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) is a face-to-face survey which asks people aged 16 and over about their experiences of crime in the past year.

It found there were an estimated 2.6 million theft incidents in 2025, an 11% fall compared to the previous year.

Actual police data included in the ONS dataset also showed a 1% fall in recorded shoplifting offences to 509,566 in 2025, compared with 2024, despite recent surges in the crime.

But the ONS notes that the Home Office recently clarified to police forces that they should record shoplifting where violence or threats of violence are used as robbery of business property.

It said this had likely had a "small effect" on the number of shoplifting offences recorded since April last year.

This change could also account for the increase in offences classed as robbery of businesses, which rose 78% from 14,691 in 2024 to 26,158 last year.