The statistics spread by propagandists are outdated and manipulative. The high rate of rape in Sweden is mainly caused by the fact that women are more likely to contact law enforcement agencies. Moreover, the legal definition of rape and the process of processing statistics in Sweden are different than in other countries. The data has nothing to do with either the influx of migrants or aid to Ukraine
A screenshot of a headline is being circulated in the pro-Russian segment of the network, which claims that the rape rate in Sweden has increased by 500%, and now one in four women will become a victim of sexual violence in her lifetime. «Send even more money to Ukraine», the propagandists ironically comment on the news, hinting that Sweden should deal with its internal problems instead of supporting the fight against Russian aggression.
In reality, the statistics that propagandists are spreading are outdated and manipulative. The story in the screenshot was published back in 2013. It claims that the rapid increase in sexual violence in the country is a consequence of mass migration from Muslim countries. Both Swedish and international human rights activists and experts have repeatedly disputed the data provided. Lars Lewenhagen, a representative of the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, stated that in fact, in 2014, 2.4% of the country’s population reported sexual violence to law enforcement agencies. This is a wide range of crimes of varying severity. 3,224 women reported rape, thus, 0.03% of the population.
At the same time, the expert determines that from 2005 to 2017, the number of rapes investigated by law enforcement agencies did indeed increase, but he attributes this to a significant expansion of the legal definition of the concept. Numerous reports and studies have also found that the increase in sexual violence is not related to migrants from Muslim countries. According to Lars Lewenhagen, the victims have become more likely to contact law enforcement. Among other factors that could have influenced the statistics, he names the rise in the popularity of dating apps. According to sociologist Clara Selin, Sweden also records and processes statistics on sexual violence differently than other countries: «In Sweden there has been this ambition explicitly to record every case of sexual violence separately, to make it visible in the statistics. So, for instance, when a woman comes to the police and she says my husband or my fiance raped me almost every day during the last year, the police have to record each of these events, which might be more than 300 events. In many other countries it would just be one record – one victim, one type of crime, one record».
Of course, the level of sexual violence in Sweden is in no way related to aid to Ukraine. Russian propagandists often spread fake information about Western European countries — mostly about the migrant crisis, rising utility costs, and goods — to discredit the EU. We have already debunked such manipulations in Fake: The Netherlands Sent Citizens Instructions in Russian on Surrendering to the Invaders and Manipulation: France Accused Russia of Spreading Bedbugs.
