Is 増える a state change verb?


I've been unclear about this for a while and a recent question on this site
prompted me to ask for clarification.

Consider the sentence, **犯罪が増えている**. In this sentence, **is it implied that
the increasing has stopped?** In other words, does 増える represent an
instantaneous state change between some smaller amount and some larger amount
or does it represent a process that can continue?

If 増えている represents a progressive process and this implies that the increasing
in continuing, is it grammatical to include an amount? Is 「三倍増えている」acceptable
and if so, what does it mean given that the increasing changing?

If it is ambiguous, how could it be clarified?




It depends on contexts.

If it's accompanied with 今まさに (right now), it's progressive, though you may
want to conjugate it into 増えていっている or てきている.

三倍に増えている is interpreted as "it has tripled" and it's not sure how it went
since then without extra information.




It depends on contexts.

If it's accompanied with 今まさに (right now), it's progressive, though you may
want to conjugate it into 増えていっている or てきている.

三倍に増えている is interpreted as "it has tripled" and it's not sure how it went
since then without extra information.

