Elderly worry over crime more than they should

OLDER people are more worried than they need to be about being a victim of crime – and official figures prove it.

The Office for National Statistics says that one in six (15.5 per cent) of those aged 65 to 74 think it is “likely” or “fairly likely” that they will be a victim, but just 8.8 per cent had experienced crime in the past year.

In contrast, the young, who are most likely to be a crime victim, were the only group to underestimate their chance of experiencing it.

The ONS report said: “While those aged 16 to 24 showed a tendency to underestimate victimisation among their age group, those aged 25 to 34 were able to produce a better estimate of their likelihood of experiencing victimisation.

“Individuals aged 35 and over generally tended to overestimate their likelihood of victimisation.”

In fact, most people overestimate the crime rate – 60 per cent thought it had gone up in the past few years, while Crime Survey data in England and Wales showed a 6 per cent drop in reported victims in the year to March 2016. In that period, just 0.3 per cent of adults were victims of robbery, although 10 per cent said they were “very worried” they would experience it.

“In general, the survey shows that individuals’ perceptions of crime on a national level do not typically match well to reality,” the ONS concluded.