Fewer Dutch people are feeling unsafe

The share of residents aged 15 years and over who said they occasionally felt unsafe in their own neighbourhood in 2019 is less substantial than in previous years. Last year, 14 percent sometimes felt unsafe in their own neighbourhood, as against 16 percent in 2017 and 18 percent in 2012.

Also fewer unsafety feelings elsewhere in place of residence

Feelings of unsafety in the place of residence are strongest in places with loitering young people; last year, 36 percent of the Dutch population felt unsafe in such places. People feel least unsafe in their own house. This was reported by 6 percent.

Relative to two years previously, in most locations within the place of residence a smaller share reported feeling unsafe in 2019. Only in and around shopping areas and shopping centres has this share remained more or less the same. Compared to 2012, feelings of unsafety have become less prevalent in all locations.

Relatively high level of unsafety feelings among young people

Unsafety perceptions vary by age. The level of unsafety feelings is higher among 15 to 24-year-olds and 25 to 44-year-olds than among 45 to 64-year-olds and people aged 65 and over. For example, 40 percent of the young people aged 15 to 24 years express a general feeling of unsafety at times, while this share is 23 percent among the over-65s. This age gap is wider for the general feeling of unsafety than for unsafety feelings in one’s own neighbourhood.

In 2019, the level of unsafety feelings in the neighbourhood was lower among all age categories compared to 2012. The same applied to the general feeling of unsafety.

More than half of young women sometimes feel unsafe

The share of women with unsafety feelings last year is larger than the share of men. Young women (15-24 years) in particular are more likely to have feelings of unsafety than their male peers. Over half (54 percent) of young women sometimes had a general feeling of unsafety, as against 26 percent of young men.