How unsafe we feel, and how unsafe we are

Two different questions on perception

ISTAT’s Aspects of Daily Life survey asks households whether the area where they live is very, fairly, not very or not at all at risk of crime: this is the figure for the big cities and the provinces. The European EU-SILC survey asks whether there are problems of crime, violence or vandalism in the area: this is the figure for the long national series. That is why the levels do not match.

Reported crimes are not all crimes

Reported crimes are those the police have passed on to the judicial authorities. Many crimes are never reported, and the propensity to report them varies from crime to crime and from place to place.

The rate is calculated on residents

In cities that take in commuters, students and tourists every day, crimes also affect people who do not live there, so the rate per resident comes out higher than the real likelihood of being a victim for those who do. Fear, on the other hand, is reported by residents.

The provincial estimates

Perception by province comes from a sample survey: in small provinces few households are interviewed. This is why the chart uses the average of the available years, for perception and for reported crimes alike. In Sardegna, crimes follow the four historical provinces, as in the rest of the atlas, while ISTAT measures perception by today’s provinces: each goes into the historical province that holds most of its municipalities, adding up the households. The Cagliari point combines Cagliari and Sud Sardegna; Nuoro, Oristano and Sassari differ from the historical ones by a few municipalities.

Sources

For the method behind the whole atlas: Methodology and sources.