The latest New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey (NZCVS) has just been published, offering new insights into the nature of reported and unreported crimes.

Published by the Ministry of Justice, the NZCVS is based on interviews conducted with over 7,100 New Zealanders between November 2022 and October 2023.
The survey indicates that 32% of New Zealanders suffered crimes during the 12 months prior to the interview, an increase from 31% in 2022. This overall figure has remained relatively stable since the survey began in 2018, according to calculations by Rebecca Parish, Ministry of Justice General Manager Sector Insights.
Overall, the NZCVS found that New Zealanders experienced 1.88 million criminal incidents in the 12-month period. Therefore, the number of victims is consistent with previous years, but there was an increase in fraud and vehicle theft.
Most frauds were identified by unauthorised banking transactions (66%), followed by online purchases (20%). The increase is a global trend and is probably related to people carrying out more online financial activities, particularly online shopping.
Vehicle theft increased by 47%, from about 41,000 households in 2022 to about 60,000 households in 2023. The survey shows that most vehicles were stolen in the street or on the road. They were less likely to be stolen if they were parked in a garage, parking lot or public parking area.
In addition, in 2023, 185,000 New Zealanders were victims of violent crime. Violent crimes include physical and/or sexual assault and robbery.
The proportion of victims reporting to the police has remained stable since the survey began in 2018. However, in contrast to the number of victims, a higher proportion of domestic incidents (thefts and vehicle thefts) reported to the police was observed last year. Across all crimes, 28% of all incidents were reported to the police.
In general, the most common reason people give for not reporting is that they believe the incident is too trivial to warrant reporting it (38%).
Vehicle crimes (58%), interpersonal violence (40%), and theft (43%) are the most reported crimes. On the contrary, fraud and cybercrime are the least reported (11%).
Other key findings:
- In 2023, more New Zealanders felt unsafe compared to 2018, particularly those aged 30 or over, Asian adults, and individuals residing in Auckland or Waikato.
- The number of people experiencing family crimes has decreased from 87,000 people to 70,000 since the survey began in 2018. This is due to the decrease in the number of crimes committed by family members who are not intimate partners: parents, children, or other relatives.
- The proportion of Māori adults who are victims of crime each year has been decreasing since the survey began, from 39% in 2018 to 34% in 2023.
- The proportion of Asian adults who are victims of crimes has increased from 24% in 2018 to 30% in 2023, due to the rise in fraud and deception.
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