Hate crimes recorded by the police in Scotland, 2024-25

Executive Summary

This report presents information on police recorded hate crimes in 2024-25, covering the first year since commencement of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 on 1st April 2024. Due to changes in both legislation and the administrative systems used to record hate crime, it is not possible to provide a like-for-like comparison with the period prior to the Act being implemented.

In 2024-25, the police recorded 8,538 hate crimes in Scotland.

The number of hate crimes recorded per 10,000 of the population was highest in Glasgow City and City of Edinburgh local authority areas (32 and 25 crimes per 10,000 population respectively)^[1] . The Na h-Eileanan Siar, Shetland Islands and Aberdeenshire local authority areas had the lowest rates.

Over three-fifths (62%) of hate crimes included a race aggravator. Just under a quarter (24%) included a sexual orientation aggravator, and just over one in ten (12%) had a disability aggravator. Those with a religion aggravator made up 7% of all recorded, whilst a transgender identity aggravator accounted for 2%.

The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 introduced two new protected characteristics, of age and variation in sex characteristics. Hate crimes aggravated by age and variation in sex characteristics each made up less than 1% of all hate crimes.

In 2024-25, three crime types accounted for 82% of all recorded hate crime, including ‘Threatening or abusive behaviour’ (48%), ‘Racially aggravated conduct’ (20%) and ‘Common Assault’ (14%).

For race aggravated hate crimes where the victim wasn’t a police officer, three-quarters (or 75%) had a victim from a visible minority ethnic (non-white) group. This compares to 7% of Scotland’s population at the time of the last census in 2022. Again, where victims weren’t police officers, the most common types of prejudice shown were against the Black community (34%), against the Pakistani community (32%) and General xenophobia (17%).

Where the victim wasn’t a police officer, the most common type of prejudice for disability hate crimes was against those with a cognitive impairment (47%). A prejudice against the Catholic community was the most common for religion aggravated hate crimes (35%). A prejudice against gay men was most common for sexual orientation aggravated hate crimes (80%) and a prejudice against transgender (male to female) was most common for transgender identity aggravated hate crimes (49%). Most of the new hate crimes aggravated by age showed a prejudice against older people.