On average, crime continued to rise in the 1990s, as it had in the 1980s. Many countries showed a fall in crime in the 1990s. The most common crime reported was theft, followed by burglary. Theft rates were higher for industrial countries than non-industrial countries. Some countries reported a much higher proportion of violent crime than others.
Most cities show similar patterns for homicide and for robbery rates.
High homicide rates were reported for several Latin American cities, New York and Northern European cities. All countries reporting crime statistics to the United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operation of Criminal Justice Systems have been able to adapt their definitions of traditional crime categories to fit the United Nations definitions. There is no one accepted methodology for collecting crime figures recorded by the police. Figures for a particular country depend on that country's state of development, the role of the police and the extent to which police use technology. In all countries police recorded crime figures are acknowledged to give an incomplete picture of crime experienced by the population.