South Africans generally feel safe walking alone in their neighbourhoods during the day, but that confidence drops sharply after sunset, according to the latest Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) Governance, Public Safety and Justice Survey (GPSJS).

The 2025/26 survey found that 80.7% of individuals felt safe walking alone in their neighbourhood during the day, down marginally from 81% in 2024/25.

After dark, however, fewer than four in 10 people felt safe walking alone.

Just 37.9% said they felt safe walking alone in their neighbourhood at night, although this represented an improvement from 36.1% the previous year.

The findings highlight how crime continues to influence the way South Africans move around their communities and protect themselves.

Limpopo feels safest

The province with the strongest sense of safety was Limpopo.

According to Stats SA, 98% of individuals in Limpopo said they felt safe walking alone in their neighbourhood during the day, while 69.1% said they felt safe doing so after dark.

The national figures show a much more cautious picture.

The proportion of people who had taken steps to protect themselves against crime increased from 43.3% in 2024/25 to 46.6% in 2025/26.

The most common response was limiting walking to safer hours, reported by 31.5% of individuals.

A further 29.9% said they had installed physical security measures, including burglar doors, to protect themselves against crime.

Housebreaking remains a major threat

At household level, housebreaking or burglary remained the most common crime experienced in 2025/26.

Stats SA estimates that around 1.5 million housebreaking incidents occurred during the year, affecting 5.3% of households nationally.

Male-headed households, households where the head had a post-school qualification, and households in KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Cape were among those most affected.

Despite the scale of the problem, many cases never reached the police.

Only about 48% of households affected by housebreaking reported the crime, although this was an improvement of 4.8 percentage points from the previous year.

That means more than half of affected households still did not report their experiences to police.

Theft affects millions

For individuals, theft of personal property was the most common personal crime.

Approximately 1.2 million people, or 2.6% of individuals aged 16 and older, experienced personal theft during the year.

There were an estimated 1.4 million incidents.

Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal recorded higher levels of personal theft, while men were more likely than women to experience it.

Once again, reporting rates remained low.

Almost two-thirds (62.7%) of victims did not report their experience to police, while 37.3% reported some or all of the incidents.

Street robbery was the second most common personal crime, although incidents declined from an estimated 529,000 in 2024/25 to 515,000 in 2025/26.

The proportion of street robbery incidents reported to police increased from 36.4% to 41.7%.

Assault cases increase

Not every crime showed a decline.

The number of individuals who experienced assault rose from 363 000 in 2024/25 to 408 000 in 2025/26.

Men were more likely to experience assault than women, but Stats SA found a significant difference in the relationship between female and male victims and their attackers.

Almost one-third (31.4%) of female assault victims said their perpetrator was a spouse or intimate partner, compared with just 2.2% of male victims.

Knives were the most commonly used weapons in assaults, followed by sticks or clubs.

The Stats SA findings provide a picture of crime that goes beyond police statistics, revealing how crime affects people’s perceptions of safety, daily routines and decisions about whether to report incidents.

For many South Africans, the impact is therefore not limited to becoming a victim of crime. It also determines when they walk, where they go and how heavily they secure their homes.

Out of 10, how safe do you feel walking around your neigbourhood during the day and night?

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