Cyprus has the most cops in the EU

The Republic of Cyprus employs more police officers than any other state in the European Union, with numbers exceeding by far the European average.

Cyprus has the highest number of police officers in 2016 according to Eurostat, which posted a report on EU cops in a brief news segment on its website.

In 2016, there were 573 police officers for every 100,000 residents, the highest rate in all of Europe followed by Malta with 505 and Greece with 492.

The lowest numbers were recorded in Hungary with just 90 police officers per 100,000 residents, while there were 212 cops in the UK (England and Wales) which was below the EU average set at 318.

The number of police officers in the EU has been decreasing gradually in recent years. The EU had a total of 1.6 million police officers in 2016, a reduction of 3.4 % since 2009.

In comparison with non-EU countries, besides Monaco and the Vatican City, countries with more cops on state payroll than Cyprus per 100,000 residents included the Bahamas, Montenegro, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Serbia according to online sources.