The crimes that fell the most were pick-pocketing/bag-snatching (down 21%), muggings (down 7.6%), burglaries (down 9.6%) and theft from vehicles (down 5.8%).

Constança Urbano de Sousa did say, on the other hand that reports of domestic violence had gone up by 1.7%, but it was unclear whether this was due to more crimes or more victims coming forward.

Portugal has never been a very crime-afflicted country, though there are petty crimes here like everywhere else. Some crimes are also typically Portuguese and other almost unheard of.

Gender violence is still a major cause of concern with many women killed or severely injured by their husbands or companions every year despite many high profile campaigns.

Crimes against children, apart from some abuse cases involving homes for orphans and the church, of course, are relatively rare.

Missing children is almost completely unheard of as a Portuguese crime and the national database has incredibly few apart from the high-profile Maddie case.