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Crime by numbers – everything you need to know about the latest stats

Statistician General Risenga Maluleke released the annual Victims of Crime Survey for 2017/18 in Pretoria on Thursday morning. 

Here are the statistics broken up in numbers:

  • 1 545 701 – the estimated number of household crime incidents, up by 5%;
  • 7.5% – the estimated percentage of households that experienced crime, up by 0.3%;
  • 1 682 624 – the estimated number of individual crime incidents;
  • 54% – the dominant household crime: housebreaking or burglary;
  • 832 122 – incidents of housebreaking/burglary, up by 7%;
  • 31.6% – clothes were the top item stolen from homes, followed by cellphones (23.6%) and food (22.2%);
  • 33% – households that reported housebreaking that were satisfied with the police's response;
  • 3.7% –individuals aged 16 and above who experienced crime, up by 0.2%;
  • 79% – personal crimes that involved theft, robbery and assault;
  • 69% of items lost through theft were cellphones, followed by wallets (45%);
  • 65.4% of victims were robbed in the streets of a residential area; 
  • 25.8% of victims were injured during a robbery;
  • 355 739 – the number of assaults, up by 12%. Men are more likely to be victims than women. Women are more likely to report assault. Most assaults occur at home; 
  • 32% of those surveyed felt safe to walk in their neighbourhoods at night, down by 3%; and
  • 54.2% of people are satisfied with the police, and 41.1% are satisfied with the courts.

ALSO READ: Crime increasing, faith in cops decreasing - Stats SA

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