Neighborhoods in Riga

Riga is a safe capital by international standards, and central Riga reads as a normal, walkable European city day to day. Everyday crime is dominated by theft rather than violence, with pickpocketing in the tourist zones and around the Central Market the everyday risk. Latvia publishes crime nationally and by municipality, not by neighborhood, so the figures below are the national picture, which Riga sits close to, rather than a per-area rate.

• Reported offences per 10,000 residents191Central Statistical Bureau (CSP), table NOR010, national figure (190.8 per 10,000), 2023

The useful split is between types. Pickpocketing and petty theft, concentrated in the tourist-heavy Old Town and around the Central Market and transport hubs, are the everyday risk. Serious violent crime is rare in the central districts where these neighborhoods sit, and none of it is broken down by district.

Latvia records crime through the State Police (Valsts policija) and the Central Statistical Bureau, and publishes it nationally and by municipality, never by neighborhood, so one figure applies across a city's districts. Latvia carries the EU's highest recorded homicide rate, but that is concentrated in domestic and alcohol-related violence among specific at-risk groups rather than street crime against strangers, so read the headline with that context, and treat recorded counts as a floor rather than a danger signal.

Latvia's crime statistics come from the Central Statistical Bureau (CSP, Centrālā statistikas pārvalde) and the State Police (Valsts policija). Figures are national or by municipality, with no breakdown below municipality level.