Break and enter alone affected 5.6 per cent of New South Wales households in 1999. In 1999, 2.2 per cent of New South Wales households experienced a motor vehicle theft. In 1999, 4.7 per cent of persons in New South Wales were victims of a personal crime, this being either a robbery, and assault or a sexual assault. The figure below shows the percentage of people in each age group in New South Wales who were victims of a personal crime in 1997. In 1999 in New South Wales 5.6 per cent of males experienced a personal crime compared with only 4.0 per cent of females.
Elderly people are the group least likely to be victims of a crime against the person.
Around one per cent of the New South Wales population aged 65 years or over experienced a personal crime in 1999. Young people have the highest rate of personal crime victimisation. Of people aged between 15 and 24, 10.1 per cent experienced a crime against the person in 1999. 4509.1 Australian Bureau of Statistics, Sydney. 4509.0 Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra.