In less than a decade Sweden has overtaken Italy and Eastern European countries to have the highest number of fatal shootings in Europe, primarily due to criminal gangs, a report published Wednesday said.

While gun homicides have declined in most European countries since the early 2000s, Sweden has experienced the opposite trend and now tops the European standings in a report compiled by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention.

"The rate in Sweden ranks very high in relation to other European countries, at approximately four deaths per million inhabitants per year. The average for Europe is approximately 1.6 deaths per million inhabitants," the report said.

"None of the other countries included in the study have experienced increases comparable to that noted in Sweden."

The data for the period 2014-2017 put Sweden in second place in the European Union, behind Croatia and ahead of Latvia.

In 2018, the Scandinavian country topped the ranking, though the data was incomplete that year as some countries were missing.

"The increase in gun homicide in Sweden is closely linked to criminal milieux in socially disadvantaged areas," the report said, noting the biggest increase has occurred since 2013.

The Swedish government and police have in recent years sounded the alarm over the rise in shootings and other violent settlings of scores blamed on underworld criminals and gangs.

In 2020, Sweden, a country of 10.3 million, recorded more than 360 incidents involving guns, including 47 deaths and 117 injured, which police said was a record in the otherwise tranquil nation.

According to the report, the number of shooting victims has more than doubled from 2011-2019, and now accounts for more than 40 percent of violent deaths.

The country also stands out with an over-representation of 20-29 year-olds among shooting victims.

The report said there was "no easy explanation" for the Swedish trend, but noted that it "may be the result of the emergence of a new group dynamic within the criminal milieu, whereby shootings have come to precipitate one another."

"Why this dynamic should have emerged just in Sweden remains unclear however."

The sharp rise in gun violence has been the subject of fiery debate in Sweden and the Social Democratic government has cracked down on gangs in recent years.

"Sweden must not get accustomed to this. It's possible to reverse the trend," Interior Minister Mikael Damberg said.

The opposition Moderate Party meanwhile called the rankings "shameful" for Sweden, while the head of the populist Sweden Democrats accused the government of "capitulating".

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