The 2025 Global Organized Crime Index shows that overall crime levels in Europe remain stable, and the region continues to rank among the least affected globally. However, this stability hides a more complex reality, with criminal markets and actors evolving and expanding.

Financial crime is the most widespread threat, driven by online fraud and cross-border schemes, while cybercrime continues to grow, often linked to state-backed or hybrid actors. Drug markets are also shifting, with cocaine and synthetic drugs increasing, while trafficking and smuggling networks remain deeply entrenched.

A...

Short Summary

Scam centres are a fast-growing global organized crime threat, generating over $1 trillion in losses in 2024. They use technology and psychological manipulation to target victims worldwide, supported by global criminal networks and easy-to-access tools.

Despite enforcement efforts, scams are expanding and adapting, often moving to low-governance environments and exploiting geopolitical gaps.

Key Actions

• Increase international coordination and intelligence sharing

• Pressure safe havens and strengthen regulation of tech and financial platforms

• Cooperate across...

Family caregivers of people with mental illness often face significant stress, stigma, and unequal responsibilities that affect their wellbeing and the quality of care they provide. This mixed-methods study in northwest Ethiopia explored coping strategies and experiences among 592 caregivers. Results showed that caregivers had relatively low coping levels, with factors such as being female, older age, farming occupation, longer illness duration, and repeated hospitalizations linked to lower adaptive coping. Higher caregiving burden and psychological distress were strongly associated with...