In 2023

Crime rate in the Autonomous Region of Madeira increased compared to the previous year, remaining, however, below the national average

With this press release, the Regional Directorate of Statistics of Madeira (DREM) presents a time series on justice for the Autonomous Region of Madeira (ARM) updated with the 2023 data provided by the Directorate General of Justice Policy (DGPJ), which acts as a delegated entity of Statistics Portugal (INE) in this domain.

Courts - Number of pending cases decreased once again

Data related to the movement of cases in the first-instance judicial courts (excluding the courts of enforcement of sentences) in the district of Madeira indicate that, in 2023, the number of pending cases decreased by 8.4% compared to 2022. As of December 31, 2023, the number of pending cases in those courts was 11.3 thousand (12.3 thousand in 2022).

In 2023, the number of completed cases (11.9 thousand) continued to exceed the number of incoming cases (10.9 thousand). The favourable balance of approximately 1,035 cases justifies the aforementioned decrease in pending cases (-8.4% compared to 2022). This trend of decreasing pending cases has been observed consecutively from 2015 to 2023.

In 2023, civil court proceedings (cases related to debts, leases, divorces, inventories, insolvency, business recovery, traffic accidents) continued to dominate in the first-instance judicial courts, distinguishing themselves from criminal, labour, and juvenile justice cases. The significance of these cases is evident when analysing their movement in 2023: they represented 60.3% of incoming cases (6.6 thousand cases), 65.6% of completed cases (7.8 thousand), and 80.7% of pending cases (9.1 thousand). The evolution of these cases indicates a decrease in incoming cases (-15.8% compared to 2022), as well as a decline in completed cases (-7.9%) and pending cases (-12.0%). Since the number of completed cases exceeded incoming cases in 2023, the balance was -1 247 cases. 

The clearance rate (ratio between the number of completed cases and incoming cases), which measures the system's capacity to handle the demand in a given year, was 109.5% in 2023, a 2.8 percentage points (pp) increase compared to the previous year (106.7%). The clearance rate for the civil cases (119.0%) surpassed that of other types of cases, with the labour case resolution rate being the lowest (91.4%).

Regarding the average duration of completed proceedings in the first-instance judicial courts, it is worth noting that civil lawsuit, although still the lengthiest in the system, reduced their duration by 2 months between 2022 (24 months) and 2023 (22 months). Similarly, labour cases saw a reduction from 14 months in 2022 to 11 in 2023. In contrast, criminal cases, juvenile cases, and labour criminal-related cases experienced an increase of 1 month compared to the previous year.

Accommodation and food service activities accounted for the majority of bankruptcy/insolvency cases

Bankruptcy, insolvency, and business recovery cases recorded an decrease of 3.8% in incoming cases (226) and also in completed cases (230) compared to 2022. Notably, the number of completed cases exceeded the number of incoming cases, resulting in a 14.3% decrease in pending cases.

Regarding cases of declared bankruptcy/insolvency, there was a 5.9% decrease from 2022 to 2023. In 2023, proceedings involving natural persons accounted for 73.8% of the 206 cases, while legal persons represented 26.2%.

With regard to the value range of cases with declared bankruptcy/insolvency, the class “Between 5,000 euros and 9,999 euros had the highest share (37.4%) of all cases, followed by the "Up to 4,999 euros" class with 34.5%. The other two classes, "Between 10,000 euros and 49,999 euros" and "50,000 euros or more," were less represented, making up 28.2% of all cases combined. Compared to 2022, there were changes in the distribution of the four value classes under analysis, with the " Between 10,000 euros and 49,999 euros" class having the highest share in 2022 (36.1% of the total).

Considering the Classification of Economic Activity of private legal entities involved in insolvency proceedings decreed in 2023, it is observed that 25.9% of them were related to “Accommodation and food service activities”, while 24.1% were associated with “Wholesale and retail trade, and repair of motor vehicles and motocycles”.

Registries and Notary - Number of registration and notary acts decreased

In 2023, a total of 274.4 thousand acts of registry and notary were performed in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, representing a 2.9% decrease from 2022. Of these, 32.0% were related to real estate registration and 23.5% to civil registration. Less common were commercial registration (7.3%), motor vehicle registry (17.5%), and notarial acts (19.7%).

Regarding the number of public deeds, there was a 3.2% increase in 2023 compared to the previous year, with the majority being conducted in the municipality of Funchal (3.8 thousand deeds, 41.7% of the total).

Crimes - Crime rate increased

In 2023, 7.2 thousand crimes were reported by the Police Authorities in the Region, representing a 5.9% increase from the previous year (6.8 thousand).

The most significant crime categories, "crimes against patrimony" and "crimes against persons" recorded values of 2.7 thousand and 2.4 thousand, respectively, in 2023, together accounting for 70.1% of the overall (70.5% in 2022). Compared to 2022, "crimes against patrimony " increased by 6.7% and "crimes against persons" by 3.7%.

By municipality, the results indicate that over half of the crimes reported in the Region in 2023 occurred in Funchal (3.8 thousand crimes, 52.2% of the total), followed by the municipalities of Câmara de Lobos (939 crimes, 13.0%), Santa Cruz (777 crimes, 10.8%), and Machico (463 crimes, 6.4%).

In 2023, the crime rate, calculated as the ratio of the number of crimes per 1,000 residents, was 28.1‰, higher than in 2022 (26.9‰). It should be noted that this rate was significantly lower than the national average (35.0‰) and the rate recorded in the Autonomous Region of the Azores (40.6‰). In the Region, the highest rates were observed for "crimes against patrimony " (10.5‰) and "crimes of assault" (6.2‰).

By municipality, the lowest rate was observed in Santana (12.6‰), and the highest was in Porto Santo (51.8‰). In addition to Porto Santo, Funchal (35.0‰), Ribeira Brava (30.0‰) and Câmara de Lobos (28.6‰) had rates above the regional average.

In 2023, law enforcement authorities identified and registered 1,115 injured / offended spouses (or akin) crimes in domestic violence crimes in the Region, an increase of 97 persons compared to the previous year (1 018 persons). The year 2015 had the highest number in the series (1,240 persons). About 72.4% of these injured/offended identified persons were women, although the growth over the previous year was much higher in men (+27.8%) than in women (+3.9%). Of the total injured/offended persons, 777 (69.7%) were identified in Funchal and 74 (6.6%) in Santa Cruz.

Lawyers - Number of lawyers increased very slightly

In 2023, there were 525 lawyers enrolled in the respective Bar association in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, up by 3 from the prior year. Of that total, 71 were trainee lawyers (13.5% of the total), with a majority being female (69.0% of trainee lawyers). Among the remaining 454 registered lawyers (86.5% of the total), men (51.3%) were more numerous than women (48.7% of registered lawyers).

Prison Establishments and Inmates - Inmate population was approximately 313 at the end of 2023

According to information provided by the DGPJ, the Funchal Prison Establishment had a prisoner population of 313 persons on December 31, 2023, an increase of 1 person compared to the same day in 2022. Despite this number being below the facility's capacity (349 persons). the available time series for existing inmates (2005-2023) show that this indicator reached its highest value in 2023.

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