New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey Published
The latest New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey (NZCVS) has been released offering fresh insights into the nature of both reported and unreported crime in our country.
Published by the Ministry of Justice today, the NZCVS is based on interviews with more than 7,100 New Zealanders between November 2022 and October 2023.
It shows 32 percent of New Zealanders experienced crime in the 12 months before the interview compared to 31 percent in 2022.
“This overall figure has been relatively stable since the survey began in 2018,” says Ministry of Justice General Manager Sector Insights Rebecca Parish.
Overall, the NZCVS found that New Zealanders experienced 1.88 million incidents of crime in the 12-month period.
Ms Parish says the key finding in the survey was that, for most crimes, the number of victims is consistent with previous years, but there was an increase in fraud and vehicle theft.
“Last year we reported a major increase in the rate of people victimised by fraud. This trend continued in 2023, with 10 percent of New Zealanders experiencing fraud in the last 12 months,” Parish says.
"This makes it the most common offence in New Zealand.”
Most fraud was identified by unauthorised bank transactions (66 percent), followed by scam online purchases (20 percent).
“The increase is a worldwide trend and is likely related to people carrying out more financial activity online, especially online shopping.”
Vehicle theft increased 47 percent from around 41,000 households in 2022 to around 60,000 households in 2023.
“Again, this mirrors a global trend,” says Ms Parish.
“The survey showed that most vehicles were stolen from the street or driveways. They were less likely to be stolen if parked in a garage, carport or public car park.”
In 2023, 185,000 New Zealanders were victims of a violent crime. Violent crime includes physical and sexual assault, and robbery.
The Government has set a target of less violent crime – with 20,000 fewer people the victims of assaults, robberies and sexual assaults by 2029.
The NZCVS will be used to monitor progress towards this target, with an update expected in August.
The proportion of victims reporting to Police has remained steady since the survey began in 2018.
“However in contrast to the number of victims, last year we observed a higher proportion of household incidents – burglary, theft, and vehicle theft – reported to Police. Across all crimes, 28 percent of all incidents were reported to Police.” Ms Parish says.
Overall, the most common reason that people give for not reporting is that they think the incident is too trivial to be worth reporting (38%).
Vehicle offences (58%), interpersonal violence (40%) and burglary (43%) are the most commonly reported crimes. Fraud and cybercrime is the least reported (11%).
Other key findings;
- In 2023, more New Zealanders felt unsafe compared to 2018, particularly those aged 30 and older, Asian adults, and people living in Auckland or Waikato.
- The number of people experiencing family offences has decreased from 87,000 people to 70,000 people since the survey began in 2018. This is driven by a decrease in the number of offences committed by family members who are not an intimate partner, e.g. parents, children, or other family relationships.
- The proportion of Māori adults experiencing crime each year has been decreasing since the survey began, from 39 percent in 2018 to 34 percent in 2023.
- The proportion of Asian adults experiencing crime has increased from 24 percent in 2018, to 30 percent in 2023. This has been driven by a rise in fraud and deception.
About the NZCVS;
- The NZCVS is the most comprehensive source of data on adult victims of crime in New Zealand.
- The NZCVS is based on nationwide, face-to-face interviews with people about their experiences of crime over the previous 12 months.
- Only about a quarter of crime is reported to the Police, so the NZCVS provides a key source of data on the nature and volume of crime.
- There are now six years of data, representing over 40,000 interviews since data was first collected in March 2018.
New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey resources and results
Contact:
Paul Easton
Ministry of Justice
Phone 027 276 9810
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