Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

E2: Environmental statistics and accounts; sustainable development

e-mail contact : ESTAT-SDG-MONITORING@ec.europa.eu

The indicator is part of the EU Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator set. It is used to monitor progress towards SDG 16 on peace, justice and strong institutions, which are embedded in the European Commission’s Priorities under 'European Green Deal', 'Promoting our European way of life' and 'A new push for European democracy'.

SDG 16 calls for peaceful and inclusive societies based on respect for human rights, protection of the most vulnerable, the rule of law and good governance at all levels. It also envisions transparent, effective and accountable institutions, which promote non-discriminatory laws and policies, combat corruption, bribery and organised crime and prevent violence, terrorism and crime.

Indicator can be considered as similar to global SDG indicator 16.1.4 "Proportion of population that feel safe walking alone around the area they live".

On 24 July 2020, the European Commission set out a new EU Security Union Strategy for the period from 2020 to 2025, which replaces the previous security strategy set out in the European Agenda on Security  (2015-2020). As a core component of the strategy, the Commission defines a new way forward on internal security with actions in key areas: organised crime; terrorism and the prevention of violent radicalisation; resilience of our critical infrastructures and public spaces; cybercrime, including fighting child sexual abuse; law enforcement cooperation and information exchange; and research and innovation.

Safety is a crucial aspect in people’s lives. Insecurity of any kind is a source of fear and worry, which negatively affect quality of life. Physical insecurity includes all the external factors that could potentially put the individual’s physical integrity in danger. Criminal actions are one of the most obvious abuses of insecurity. Analyses of physical insecurity usually combine both subjective and objective aspects – the subjective perception of insecurity and the objective lack of safety as measured by crime statistics. This indicator therefore complements the indicator on homicide rates by focussing on the perception of insecurity.

The indicator shows the share of the population who reported that they face the problem of crime, violence or vandalism in their local area. This describes the situation where the respondent feels crime, violence or vandalism in the area to be a problem for the household, although this perception is not necessarily based on personal experience.

% of population
i. total
ii. below 60% of median equivalised income
iii. above 60% of median equivalised income

Calendar year

From 2005 onwards EU-SILC is based on a common framework defined by harmonised lists of primary and secondary variables, common concepts, a recommended design, common requirements (such as imputation procedures, weighting, sampling errors calculation) and classifications aiming at maximising comparability of the information produced. Details can be found in the metadata of the source datasets (see link to related metadata).

ESS (SILC)

Data source: Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (SILC)

Data provider: Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, based on data reported by the countries.

Every 3+ years

Indicator is updated every three years. Complete and updated ESS data release information can be accessed via Eurostat release calendar.

> T+2 years

2021 and 2022 data will not be published in 2023 as data collexction switched to tri-annual; 2020 EU aggregate and 2023 EU and MS data are disseminated in 2024 though after the cut-off date applied in the 2024 EU SDG communication package.

All EU MS

Data are presented for all EU Member States plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Türkiye.

All EU MS

Data are comparable between all EU Member States respectively other presented countries.

> 10 years

Presented time series including EU aggregates starts in 2010.

> 4 data points

Length of comparable time series without methodological break is longer than 4 data points.

Analysis of indicator is presented in Eurostat's annual monitoring report on Sustainable development in the EU (progress towards SDGs in the EU context).

See table sdg_16_20

Eurostat dedicated section on SDGs: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/sdi/overview

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