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Personal safety
Domain
Good governance
Subdomain
Safety and security
Indicator
Personal safety
Note: This indicator is a headline indicator. Headline indicators are intended to provide a high-level assessment of overall quality of life in Canada.
Description - Personal safety data snapshot
19.1% of the population reported being victimized in the previous 12 months.
4.3% of the population reported violent victimization in the previous 12 months.
Source: Statistics Canada, General Social Survey (GSS) - Canadians' Safety (Victimization), 2019 (custom tabulations).
Definition
Proportion of the population who reported being victimized in the 12 months preceding the survey.
Measurement
This indicator is measured in the General Social Survey (GSS) - Canadian's Safety (Victimization).
Survey respondents are asked a series of questions about their experiences with eight types of incidents of victimization: sexual assault, robbery, physical assault, theft of personal property, breaking and entering, motor vehicle theft, theft of household property and vandalism.
Incidents of victimization can be classified as violent or non-violent, where violent incidents include sexual assault, robbery and physical assault.
The data cover the population in the provinces and territories aged 15 years and older.
Data sources
General Social Survey (GSS) – Canadian's Safety (Victimization)
| Percentage of persons reporting victimization (%) | Percentage of persons reporting violent victimization (%) | |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | 19.1 | 4.3 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 12.2 | 4.0 |
| Prince Edward Island | 14.0 | 4.2 |
| Nova Scotia | 13.9 | 6.1 |
| New Brunswick | 13.5 | 3.5 |
| Quebec | 14.7 | 2.9 |
| Ontario | 16.9 | 4.1 |
| Manitoba | 26.4 | 4.8 |
| Saskatchewan | 24.1 | 4.1 |
| Alberta | 28.4 | 6.5 |
| British Columbia | 24.3 | 4.9 |
| Yukon | 23.4 | 6.5 |
| Northwest Territories | 28.4 | 8.7 |
| Nunavut | 27.3 | 15.6 |
| Source: General Social Survey (GSS) - Canadians' Safety (Victimization), 2019 (custom tabulations). Note: Violent victimization refers to sexual assault, robbery or physical assault. |
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Data visualizations
- Persons with mental health-related disabilities: Experiences of violent victimization in Canada, 2018 (Statistics Canada - Infographics, January 26, 2022)
- Spousal violence trends in Canada, 2019 (Statistics Canada - Infographics, October 6, 2021)
- Childhood maltreatment and the link with victimization in adulthood: Findings from the 2019 General Social Survey (Statistics Canada - Infographics, August 25, 2021)
Data analysis
- Spousal violence in Canada, 2019 (Juristat, October 6, 2021)
- Criminal victimization in Canada, 2019 (Juristat, August 25, 2021)
- Violent victimization of Canadians with mental health-related disabilities, 2014 (Juristat, October 18, 2018)
- Violent victimization of lesbians, gays and bisexuals in Canada, 2014 (Juristat, May 31, 2018)
- Violent victimization and discrimination, by religious affiliation in Canada, 2014 (Juristat, April 12, 2018)
- Violent victimization and discrimination among visible minority populations, Canada, 2014 (Juristat, April 12, 2018)
- Violent victimization, discrimination and perceptions of safety: An immigrant perspective, Canada, 2014 (Juristat, April 12, 2018)
- Violent victimization of women with disabilities, 2014 (Juristat, March 15, 2018)
Additional information
Self-reported victimization data, such as those collected in the GSS on Canadians' Safety, are an important complement to official police data. Research shows that the majority of incidents are not reported to police; therefore, data collected through surveys on self-reported victimization help provide a more complete picture of the nature and prevalence of crime.
Statistics Canada also publishes victimization rates, which measure the number of victimization incidents per 1,000 people.
Frameworks
This indicator aligns with the following frameworks:
- Canadian Indicator Framework (CIF) for the Sustainable Development Goals
- CIF Indicator 5.1.1 – Proportion of the population who self-reported being sexually assaulted in the last 12 months
- CIF Indicator 5.1.2 – Proportion of women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to physical, sexual or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner in the last 12 months
- Social inclusion indicators for Canada's ethnocultural groups
- Discrimination and victimization
- Police-reported hate crimes motivated by race or ethnicity, religion and other motives
- Satisfied with personal safety from crime
- Discrimination and victimization
- 2022 to 2026 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS)
- FSDS Goal 5 – Champion gender equality
- FSDS Target Indicator – Proportion of women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to physical, sexual, or psychological violence
- FSDS Goal 5 – Champion gender equality
- Gender Results Framework (GRF)
- Gender-based violence and access to justice
- GRF Indicator 4.1.1 – Proportion of employees who self-report being harassed in the workplace
- GRF Indicator 4.2.1 – Proportion of women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to physical, sexual or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner
- GRF Indicator 4.2.2 – Proportion of population who self-reported being sexually assaulted, since age 15
- GRF Indicator 4.5.1 – Proportion of self-reported incidents of violent crime reported to police, past 12 months, by type of crime
- GRF Indicator 4.6.1 – Proportion of Indigenous women and girls subjected to physical, sexual or psychological violence, by Indigenous identity
- Gender-based violence and access to justice
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