INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS

Household victimisation surveys are run in many countries and aim to enhance the comparability of crime statistics. International comparability based on police statistics alone is insufficient due to cross-country differences in reporting practices (OECD 2010).

In 2005, Australia had the 9th highest victimisation rate for assaults or threats (3.4%) amongst OECD countries for which data are available (the OECD average was 2.9%). Iceland and the United Kingdom had the highest victimisation rates (5.9% and 5.4% respectively) whilst Italy, Japan and Portugal all had rates below 1.0%.

For burglary with entry in 2005, Australia was ranked equal 5th highest alongside the United States at 2.5% amongst OECD countries. The United Kingdom and New Zealand had the highest victimisation rates at 3.3% and 3.2% respectively and the OECD average was 1.8%. Some of the OECD countries with the lowest burglary victimisation rates included Austria, Germany and Japan (all 0.9%), Finland and Spain (0.8%) and Sweden (0.7%).

Since 2000, the overall victimisation rates have fallen in 18 out of the 20 OECD countries for which information is available, including Australia (OECD 2010).