Greece’s largest cities, the capital Athens and Thessaloniki, are included among the most dangerous in Europe, according to the Numbeo Index.
The Numbeo index measures citizens’ perceptions of safety and crime on a scale of 0-100. In 2025, the English city of Bradford was dubbed the most dangerous, while France had the most cities included on the top 30 list.
Athens was in the 16th spot, accumulating 55.3 points, while the northern city of Thessaloniki came in 23rd with 52.5.
Two days ago, an explosion rocked downtown Athens outside an office building housing agriculture ministry-affiliated agencies. According to reports, the blast was caused by a makeshift explosive device comprised of small camping gas canisters. This was just the latest of similar incidents, usually claimed by self-styled anarchists and anti-state groupings that mostly strike in central Athens.
Four out of the top five most dangerous cities on the list are in the UK, with London, Birmingham, and Coventry joining Bradford.
France holds seven of the top ten most dangerous cities in Europe, including Marseille, Grenoble, Montpellier, Nantes, Paris, Lyon, and Nice.
Marseille, in particular, remains strongly associated with organized crime, while Paris continues to struggle with perceptions of street crime in tourist areas.
The rankings, which do not analyze the causes of criminality, are based on crime perception scores, where higher values indicate a stronger feeling of insecurity among residents:
- Very Low Crime: 20 and below
- Low Crime: 20.01 – 40
- Moderate Crime: 40.01 – 60
- High Crime: 60.01 – 80
- Very High Crime: above 80
