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Fear of crime

The fear of crime indicator measures the subjective sense of security felt by people in general and with regard to specific offences.

It describes people's fear of becoming a victim of crime themselves.

This fear is measured using representative population surveys, here the German Victimisation Survey (Deutscher Viktimisierungssurvey 2017). The survey was jointly designed by the Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt) and the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law. The second wave of data was collected for the second time in 2017. Respondents were asked: "How safe do you feel in your neighbourhood at night?" This question provides an approximnation of people's general fear of crime. The survey also measures people’s fear of different types of criminal offences.

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Fear of crime 2017
The chart depicts fear of crime in 2017. In concrete terms, it shows the percentage of those interviewed who fear crime in general and fear specific offences. Almost 80 percent of those interviewed said they felt “fairly safe” or “very safe” in their residential area at night. Similar patterns were recorded for fear of specific offences. For offences robbery, bodily harm and terrorist attacks around 80 percent of those interviewed said they were not at all or only a little worried about becoming a victim. The share of respondents that feels "not at all" or "only a little" worried of falling victim to robbery is lower and to sexual harrassment higher relative to the other offences. GeneralBodily harmBurglaryRobberySexual harassmentTerror attack050100%
very safe
rather safe
rather unsafe
very unsafe
not at all
a little
fairly
very

Source: Deutscher Viktimisierungssurvey 2017.

Share of respondents with general and offence-specific fear of crime, N = 31,086 (general fear of crime); 6,041 (bodily harm); 6,057 (burglary); 6,046 (robbery); 6,037 (sexual harassment); 6,032 (terrorist attack).

Fear of crime by gender 2017
The chart shows fear of crime by gender in 2017. In concrete terms, it shows the percentage of those interviewed who fear crime in general and fear specific offences. Women were generally more afraid of crime than men and more afraid of being a victim of robbery, burglary, bodily harm, sexual harassment or terror attacks.Generalfemalemale050100% Burglaryfemalemale050100% Bodily harmfemalemale050100% Robberyfemalemale050100% Sexual harassmentfemalemale050100% Terror attackfemalemale050100%
very safe
rather safe
rather unsafe
very unsafe
not at all
a little
fairly
very

Source: Deutscher Viktimisierungssurvey 2017.

Share of respondents with general and offence-specific fear of crime, N = 31,086 (general fear of crime); 6,041 (bodily harm); 6,057 (burglary); 6,046 (robbery); 6,037 (sexual harassment); 6,032 (terrorist attack).

Fear of crime by age group 2017
The chart shows fear of crime in 2012 by age group. In concrete terms, it shows the percentage of people who fear crime in general and fear specific offences. People over 65 were more worried about crime in general. In general, peoples’ fear of crime is more or less constant over age, but their fear increases after retirement. Young people, however, are more afraid of crimes such as burglary, bodily harm, sexual harassment or a terrorist attack. aged 16-24GeneralBodily harmBurglaryRobberySexual harassmentTerror attack050100% aged 25-34GeneralBodily harmBurglaryRobberySexual harassmentTerror attack050100% aged 35-44GeneralBodily harmBurglaryRobberySexual harassmentTerror attack050100% aged 45-54GeneralBodily harmBurglaryRobberySexual harassmentTerror attack050100% aged 55-64GeneralBodily harmBurglaryRobberySexual harassmentTerror attack050100% aged 65-74GeneralBodily harmBurglaryRobberySexual harassmentTerror attack050100% aged 75 and overGeneralBodily harmBurglaryRobberySexual harassmentTerror attack050100%
very safe
rather safe
rather unsafe
very unsafe
not at all
a little
fairly
very

Source: Deutscher Viktimisierungssurvey 2017.

Share of respondents with general and offence-specific fear of crime, N = 31,086 (general fear of crime); 6,041 (bodily harm); 6,057 (burglary); 6,046 (robbery); 6,037 (sexual harassment); 6,032 (terrorist attack).

Persons with a general fear of crime (fairly and very afraid) by federal states 2017
Using a map of Germany, the chart depicts percentages of the population with a general fear of crime in individual federal states in 2017. Results range from 16.6 to 30.2 percent. The general fear of crime by region shows a varied picture. The inhabitants of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hessen, Bavaria and Schleswig-Holstein were less afraid of criminal attacks than people in the rest of the country.
Fairly and very
16.6% - 18.5%
18.5% - 20.5%
20.5% - 22.4%
22.4% - 24.4%
24.4% - 26.3%
26.3% - 28.3%
28.3% - 30.2%

Source: Deutscher Viktimisierungssurvey 2017.
Geometry: © GeoBasis-DE / BKG 2016.

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