Victims of burglary or assault (i78)
- 31/10/2025
- objective
- assessment
In 2023, 19.9% of the population aged 15 and over in Belgium reported that they or a member of their family had been the victim of a burglary or assault in the last five years. To achieve the sustainable development goal by 2030, this figure must decrease. Between 2002 and 2023, the trend is favourable (assessment of November 2025).
Victims of burglary or assault - Belgium and international comparison
percentage of population aged 15 and over
| 2002 | 2004 | 2006 | 2008 | 2010 | 2012 | 2014 | 2016 | 2018 | 2021 | 2023 | 2023//2002 | 2023//2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium | 26.9 | 25.6 | 25.7 | 23.8 | 22.4 | 21.5 | 23.1 | 20.3 | 22.9 | 19.6 | 19.9 | -1.4 | -0.3 |
| Germany | 8.7 | 10.7 | 9.6 | 9.2 | 9.2 | 11.3 | 11.4 | 12.7 | 11.5 | 7.5 | 8.5 | -0.1 | -5.6 |
| France | 28.5 | 28.4 | 26.1 | 25.3 | 21.8 | 21.8 | 23.2 | 22.4 | 21.2 | 17.2 | 21.4 | -1.4 | -0.7 |
| Netherlands | 20.7 | 19.5 | 19.2 | 20.1 | 18.4 | 18.3 | 20.0 | 15.8 | 15.4 | 11.5 | 10.5 | -3.2 | -5.6 |
| //: Average Growth Rates | |||||||||||||
Source: Calculations FPB based on ESS (2025), Dataset European Social Survey, http://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/, last update of data 02/06/2025 (consulted on 01/10/2025)
Victims of burglary or assault by income - Belgium
percentage of population aged 15 and over
| 2010 | 2012 | 2014 | 2016 | 2018 | 2021 | 2023 | 2023//2010 | 2023//2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| quintile 1 | 21.0 | 20.7 | 25.3 | 15.9 | 23.2 | 18.1 | 25.1 | 1.4 | 6.7 |
| quintile 2 | 21.8 | 16.8 | 21.5 | 19.0 | 24.5 | 21.3 | 22.5 | 0.3 | 2.5 |
| quintile 3 | 21.1 | 20.9 | 20.8 | 21.7 | 20.3 | 14.2 | 21.2 | 0.1 | -0.3 |
| quintile 4 | 21.8 | 25.1 | 24.6 | 19.0 | 21.9 | 20.5 | 16.9 | -1.9 | -1.7 |
| quintile 5 | 25.0 | 26.4 | 26.3 | 27.7 | 27.4 | 24.7 | 18.8 | -2.2 | -5.4 |
| //: Average Growth Rates | |||||||||
Source: Calculations FPB based on ESS (2025), Dataset European Social Survey, http://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/, last update of data 02/06/2025 (consulted on 01/10/2025)
Definition: the victims of burglary or assault corresponds to the share of respondents to the European Social Survey (ESS) that answered ‘yes’ to the following question: “Have you or a member of your household been the victim of a burglary or assault in the last 5 years?”. This question was asked in each of the eleven biennial ESS surveys. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the survey for 2020 was postponed to 2021. The FPB calculates the indicator using the ESS data. Since these data are based on surveys, a margin of uncertainty must be considered. The confidence intervals for these data are available on request.
The following breakdown is available for this indicator: income.
Goal: the share of respondents who have themselves or a family member been the victim of a burglary of assault must decrease.
The Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs adopted by the UN in 2015 include target 16.1: “Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere”.
UN indicator: the selected indicator is related to target 16.1.1 - Number of victims of intentional homicide per 100,000 population, by sex and age.
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