South Africans are more likely to be victims of crime in their own homes than elsewhere.

Disaggregated data from Statistics South Africa shows that over 50% of all crime experienced by households in the country over 2015/16 was housebreaking.

 Statistician-general Pali Lehohla told reporters “50% of all crime activities happen in a place you call home”.

At a media briefing in Pretoria‚ Lehohla released a report titled “Exploring the extent of and circumstances surrounding housebreaking/burglary and home robbery”.

Overall‚ just half the criminal activities in the country were reported to police. A total of 358‚191 incidents were reported‚ while 727‚130 occurred.

 Lehohla said crime in South Africa was actually declining‚ but the public perception was that it was shooting up.

 Said Statistics South Africa’s report: “One possible reason for the non-alignment between perception and experience of crime could be the media coverage of crime.

 “An increasing number of households have access to news about crimes that took place in other parts of the country and in other countries.

 “Another reason may be that even though the overall crime rate is decreasing‚ some specific crime types may be increasing‚ and households may be paying more attention to those crimes than the overall rates.”

Lehohla said South Africans yearned for a safe country. This could be realised by 2059‚ if proper interventions were made.

 “Crime causes anxiety and anxiety hypertension‚ and hypertension causes‚ amongst other things‚ heart diseases. You don’t want to be anxious‚ you want to be safe‚” said Lehohla.