Bangladesh, April 16 -- Austria is grappling with a growing internal security dilemma as newly released police statistics indicate a sharp rise in criminal offenses involving foreign nationals. The data, made public by Austrias Interior Ministry on April 14, 2025, reveals that nearly half of all crimes recorded in 2024 involved non-Austrian suspects-a trend that is prompting both national soul-searching and a hard pivot in immigration policy.

In 2024, Austria registered more than 500,000 criminal offenses, marking a 1.2% increase from the previous year. Of the 336,000 suspects identified, an alarming 46.8% were foreign nationals-roughly 157,000 individuals. Among them, Romanians, Germans, and Syrians represented the largest groups. The m...