Knife crime: The 15 Birmingham neighbourhoods with the most stabbings revealed

Knife crime continues to be a real issue in Birmingham with a number of shocking incidents taking place over the last few years.

People in the city centre were left shocked after a teenager was stabbed and killed in Victoria Square two weeks ago (January 20). A murder investigation is underway following the death of 17-year-old Muhammad Hassam Ali.

And alarming figures show that around 10 knife crimes have occurred each day in the West Midlands since 2020. West Midlands Police data revealed that 6,185 knife crimes occurred from November 2020 to October 2023, with 11,286 in total in the West Midlands from November 2020 to October 2023.

We can now reveal the neighbourhoods in Birmingham that saw the highest amount of knife crime assaults in 2023. A Freedom of Information Request, which was submitted to West Midlands Police, shows the 15 Birmingham areas where the most ‘knife’ and ‘causing injury’ incidents were recorded last year. The data is in relation to violence against a person offences, with 'Assault occasioning Actual Bodily Harm', also included in the data.

One youth worker from Birmingham who didn't want to be named, works with young people in many of these neighbourhoods, and he gave Birmingham World some insight into why these Birmingham neighbourhoods are being hit the hardest by knife crime.

He told us: "Income deprivation is one, but also the cost-of-living crisis and a lot of young people are coming from families that are deprived, so because there is no income in the household a lot of them are turning to criminal activity, whether it's county lines or selling drugs just to make ends meet.

"If you get involved in these things then you are going to make enemies because if you're going into different areas you have other potential drug dealers in the same situation as yourself stepping into people's territories."

He also expressed concern over Birmingham City Council's plans to cut its anti-knife crime budget as it grapples with effective bankruptcy. The remaining youth centres Birmingham, its anti-knife crime programme and youth workers who deal with the most vulnerable and potentially violent children in the city are all under threat from potential cuts.

The youth care worker said: "Youth support services are being cut quite a bit and especially in these areas. For example, there is no youth service in Aston and there's nothing there for the people to do.

"The last project which was there was the local Aston Detached Youth Project. Since that closed, there's no provision there, which is the same in a lot of these neighbourhoods. You need youth workers to go out there and speak to young people and give them that support."

You can see the 15 neighbourhoods in Birmingham that recorded the most stabbings in 2023 below: