#EU #Austria – Austria’s Federal Ministry of the Interior documented an increase in anti-Christian hate crimes in 2025, according to its annual Hate Crime report released in July 2026.
Police recorded 133 bias motives directed against Christians that year, up approximately 20 percent from the 111 registered in 2024. These accounted for about 19 percent of all religion-related hate crime motives. Overall, authorities logged 6,751 prejudice-motivated offences involving 7,327 bias motives across the country.
Religious hostility ranked as the third most common category of hate crime motives, behind “worldview” or ideology (4,009 motives) and national or ethnic origin (1,523). Within the religion category, which totalled 696 motives (a 9 percent decline from the previous year), anti-Muslim cases led with 264, followed by antisemitic cases with 247 and anti-Christian cases with 133. Offences against other religious groups numbered 52.
The report highlighted a notable concentration of anti-Christian incidents at sacred sites. Of 21 documented anti-religious incidents at churches, cemeteries, and monuments, 12 were motivated by hostility toward Christians. These primarily involved serious property damage.
The most frequent offences targeting Christians included serious property damage (29 cases), dangerous threats (24), involvement with terrorist organizations (13), aggravated theft (12), and bodily injury. Suspects in anti-Christian cases were disproportionately non-Austrian citizens: 57 percent held foreign nationality, compared with 28 percent of hate crime suspects overall. Many were young, with a notable share aged 14 to under 18. Male suspects predominated.
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner emphasized in the report’s foreword that combating hate crime remained a daily priority essential for social cohesion. The clearance rate for these offences reached 71 percent, higher than the rate for overall crime. The ministry noted that hate crime continued to trend younger and more digital, with online activity remaining a significant venue, though anti-Christian cases more often involved physical targets such as religious sites.
The data formed part of the fifth consecutive annual Hate Crime Lagebericht published by the Bundesministerium für Inneres. While absolute numbers of anti-Christian cases remained lower than those targeting Muslims or Jews in 2025, the year-over-year rise and the focus on attacks against Christian sites drew attention in subsequent coverage.
Image: St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, Austria.
