DAY -6 Crime statistics

You know what they say about statistics - lies, damn lies and..... statistics?

Well, I had hoped to give some contextualisation of South African crime figures so that at least we would have some feel for where it fits in the world. But it is really difficult, so I will only highlight some general points. That said, an excellent review was published in 2005 'PUZZLING STATISTICS - Is South Africa really the world’s crime capital?'

As the report concludes: 'Nothing written here implies that South Africa’s crime rate is something to be proud of or, indeed, that we are not near the top of the world rankings. It is to say, however, that there are so many gaps in the data, so much room for doubt and interpretation, that it is not at all certain whether South Africa’s crime levels are as exceptional as is often believed.

We can be sure that South Africa’s murder rates are far higher than those of the industrialised world. Beyond that – as far as other forms of crimes or countries at other stages of development are concerned – the data are just too patchy, and their interpretation too murky, to know whether South Africa really is the world’s crime capital.'

2000 data suggests that South Africa ranks third in the world for murder rate, behind Colombia and Swaziland (a neighbour to South Africa) with a rate of 51.4 per 100,000 people. This compares with the USA (about 5.5 per 100,000) and the UK (about 2 per 100,000), which may not be fair comparisons as they are developed countries.

Statistics on rape are even more complicated so I will only point out that the Eastern Cape province with a rate of 104.5 per 100,00 in 2004/05 has one of the lower rates in South Africa. A simple calculation would suggest that, as a woman, you are four times more likely to report being raped as be murdered in South Africa.

For anyone interested in more detailed crime statistics for South Africa, visit these links:
2004/05 Rape statistics
2004/05 Murder statistics
2004/05 Aggravated robbery statistics
2004/05 East London collated statistics

The chart shown is taken from another ISS publication Crime in South Africa: A country and cities profile