Xenophobic violence in Sweden 2009–2022: Introducing the dataset

We present a new event dataset on xenophobic violence in Sweden, covering all police-reported, hate-crime-flagged incidents involving physical violence between 2009 and 2022 (n = 2,522). The dataset provides a nationally complete and georeferenced record of violent xenophobic offences, combining programmatic extraction of structured police records with manual coding of free-text narratives under transparent inclusion criteria. It includes detailed information on offence types, bias motivations, temporal and spatial context, and characteristics of victims and perpetrators. By maintaining a uniform sampling frame across the full period, the dataset enables consistent longitudinal analysis of xenophobic violence beyond media-based or survey-driven sources. We present descriptive patterns to illustrate its analytical value, highlighting the coexistence of routine, dispersed assaults and episodic surges linked to external events. The dataset offers a transparent empirical foundation for research on hate crime, political violence, and the dynamics of intergroup conflict.