Stats SA estimates that South African households experienced 1.5 million housebreaking incidents in 2025/26, with fewer than half reported to police.
South African households experienced an estimated 1.5 million housebreaking incidents in 2025/26, making burglary the country’s most common household crime, according to new Statistics South Africa findings released on Tuesday.
The Governance, Public Safety and Justice Survey found that housebreaking affected 5.3% of households. Stats SA distinguishes housebreaking, which happens while a household is away, from home robbery, where occupants are present.
Only about 48% of households affected by housebreaking reported incidents to the police. That was an improvement of 4.8 percentage points from the previous survey, but it means more than half of affected households did not report the crime.
The survey also measured how safe people feel in their neighbourhoods. About 80.7% of respondents said they felt safe walking alone during the day, slightly below 81% in 2024/25. After dark, 37.9% felt safe, up from 36.1% a year earlier.
Limpopo recorded the highest reported feelings of safety: 98% of respondents said they felt safe walking alone during the day and 69.1% said the same after dark.
For crimes experienced by individuals, theft of personal property was the most common. Stats SA estimated that about 1.2 million people aged 16 and older were affected, involving roughly 1.4 million incidents. Nearly two-thirds of victims did not report the theft to police.
Street robbery incidents fell from 529,000 in 2024/25 to 515,000 in 2025/26. Reporting of street robbery improved from 36.4% to 41.7%.
Assault moved in the opposite direction. The estimated number of people who experienced assault increased from 363,000 to 408,000. Stats SA said 31.4% of female assault victims identified a spouse or intimate partner as the perpetrator, compared with 2.2% of male victims.
The survey is based on households’ and individuals’ experiences and perceptions. It therefore includes incidents that were not reported to the South African Police Service and is not directly interchangeable with police case statistics.
