The Survey on Citizen Coexistence and Security in Colombia provides information on people aged 15 years or over, who have been personally affected by criminal activities such as theft, fights, or extortion. The survey also explores people’s perceptions of their safety.

For the first time, Colombia has conducted a nationwide victimisation survey that also covers victimisation in rural areas during the 2018 reference period.

The National Administrative Department for Statistics, DANE, published the results of the Survey on Citizen Coexistence and Security (ECSC), which compiles information from a representative sample of 128,998 people aged 15 or over, from 39,712 households

According to the results of the Survey on Citizen Coexistence and Security, in 2018, 15.6% of Colombians aged 15 or over were victims of at least one crime.

In the year 2018, victimisation prevalence in Colombia was higher for men aged 15 or over (16.9%) than for women aged 15 years or over (14.3%).

Of particular significance is the fact that in Colombia, during 2018, 71.3% of people aged 15 or over who were victims of a crime did not report it to the relevant authorities.

Of the 3% of Colombian households to report a robbery at their residence in 2018, 68.4% of them lived in a house, while 29.8% lived in a flat.

It should also be noted that 7.3% of people aged 15 or over were victims of theft, and 41.8% of those were between 15 and 29 years old. In relation to gender, 7.6% of the total number of men aged 15 or over said they had been a victim of theft in 2018; the corresponding figure for women was 7%.

34.5% of burglaries occurred between 12 midday and 6 p.m., and the most stolen personal item was the mobile phone at 75.9%.

22.9% of Colombians aged 15 or over said they owned at least one vehicle –car, motorcycle, bicycle, or agricultural vehicle– and of these, 8.7% said that either the entire vehicle, a part of it, or an accessory was stolen. 62.5% of victims said that a part or an accessory was stolen, and 37.5% declared that the entire vehicle was taken. In 38.4% of cases, the theft of the vehicle occurred between 12 midday and 6 p.m.

1.5% of people aged 15 years or over reported that they had been involved in a fight involving physical violence, and of these, 54.4% were young people between 15 and 29 years of age. By gender, 2% of all the men surveyed had been involved in a fight, while the corresponding statistic was 1.1% for women.

2.2% of people aged 15 and over said they had been the victim of extortion or attempted extortion in Colombia during 2018. In the case of 92.2% of those victims, the extortionist contacted the victim by telephone, and in 43.4% of those cases, the victim was threatened with their own safety.

For the whole of Colombia, the question about whether people aged 15 or over feel safe in different public spaces revealed that 48% of people felt most unsafe on the streets, followed by 42.9% of people who felt most unsafe on public transport.

With regard to the different cities and the perception of safety in those cities (whether people generally felt safe in their city), Bogotá and Cartagena were the cities whose residents felt most unsafe, with their percentages at 84% and 73.9% of respectively.

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