Foreign nationals accounted for 53% of suspects identified in 751 recorded gang rape cases in Germany last year, according to newly released federal government figures, despite non-German citizens making up less than 17% of the country’s population.
The figures, released in response to a parliamentary inquiry, showed that police identified 1,087 suspects in cases categorized as group rapes in 2025. Of those suspects, 578 were non-German nationals, compared with 509 German citizens. Government data also confirmed that in the case of 772 victims, 619 were German citizens, including 565 women and 54 men. 72% of solved cases also involved suspects who were already known to police.
The figures emerged as investigators continue to examine allegations of organized sexual exploitation in Nuremberg, Germany, where police say vulnerable teenage girls were targeted by groups of men around the city’s central railway station. The investigation, known as Operation EKO Kajal, has expanded in recent months, with police detaining suspects accused of crimes involving sexual offenses against girls and young women, as well as the alleged distribution of drugs or medication to minors. Bavarian investigators said some victims were approached while in vulnerable situations and offered attention, gifts, clothing or cosmetics before being introduced to drugs. The suspects exploited victims’ dependency in order to obtain sexual acts.
Police have said that in one case, a 21-year-old Syrian man raped two girls, aged 15 and 18, in an apartment after they had allegedly been given narcotics by a 40-year-old Syrian man. Both men were detained awaiting trial. The figures have drawn comparisons with grooming gang scandals in Britain, where investigations in towns including Rotherham, Rochdale, Telford and Oxford found failures by police, councils and other public bodies to properly respond to allegations of organized child sexual exploitation.
Emma Schubart, a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, said the German cases showed similarities with patterns seen in Britain, particularly where drugs were allegedly used alongside sexual exploitation. “It’s a severe failure in both countries,” Schubart said in a statement. "In the U.K., it’s usually the phrase ‘community relations'. There’s a huge effort to not threaten community relations.”
The ifo Institute has said there is no correlation between rising foreign populations and overall local crime rates across German districts between 2018 and 2023, but the AfD have accused officials of ignoring other uncomfortable statistics in an effort to avoid accusations of prejudice.
