Shoplifting in so prevalent in Spain that the country has the third-highest rate of shop theft in Europe and the sixth-highest in the world.
According to the Global Retail Theft Barometer, Spain lost nearly €2.5 billion in theft over a calendar year 2014-2015.
This represented 1.33% of sales.
Portugal by comparison ranked 19th worldwide, with a loss of 0.9% of sales.
The barometer measures “shrink” which is composed of shoplifting, employee and supplier fraud and admin errors.
The country with the world’s worst problem was Mexico, followed by the Netherlands and Finland. China and Japan rounded out the world’s top five.
In Spain, the cost of retail crime and its prevention amounts to just over 2% of store overhead, or some €4.14 billion for the country - the equivalent of €238 per family.
Despite the high amount of pilfering, theft rates have been coming down in recent years. The Spanish Interior Ministry reported a drop of 5% between 2013 and 2014.
Actual shoplifting accounted for 52%, administrative error for 25%, employee theft for 18% and supplier fraud 5%.
Most frequently nicked were shoes, lingerie, sunglasses and handbags while smartphones topped the list of electronic goods.
