Fewer Kiwis experiencing crime compared to five years ago: survey

Crime rates are down compared to five years ago. File photo

Fewer New Zealanders are experiencing crime compared with five years ago, a national survey has found.

The New Zealand Crime and Safety survey, which takes place every three to five years, estimated that 1.9 million "personal" or "household" crimes occurred in 2013, compared to 2.7 million in 2008.

Personal crimes included sexual offences, assault, robbery and threats and household crimes included burglary, theft and damage to property.

Both the number of offences and the number of people who experienced crime decreased compared to the previous survey.

Three-quarters of the 7000 respondents in the survey said they did not experience any crime in 2013, compared to 63 per cent in 2008.

The number of violent assaults, threats, and thefts all fell over the five-year period, though the rate of sexual offending remained steady.

Justice Minister Amy Adams said the survey's results were proof that the National-led Government's focus on crime was working.

She said there were still parts of society which experienced disproportionate levels of crime and "this will remain our focus".

The survey showed Maori and lower-income New Zealanders were more likely to be affected by crime.

The survey is based on responses from randomly selected people aged 15 years and older. It is designed to complement official police statistics, which did not include unreported crime.