In 2021, 9.5% of Belgians were victims of psychological violence outside the family, according to the Safety Monitor 2021, a survey done by the federal police in cooperation with local police, the Federal Interior Department and local governments.
Within the family and via the Internet the figures were 2.9% and 4.2 % respectively, according to the survey, whose results were released on Thursday. Only one in five acts of psychological violence was reported to the police.
Where physical violence was concerned, 3.4% of Belgians said they were victims of such acts outside the family last year and 1.3% within the family. In one in three cases, the victim reported the crime.
In the previous Safety Monitor, conducted in 2018, the corresponding percentage was half that figure. During the pandemic, the threshold for police to intervene in households was raised, leading to a rise in incidents that were not dealt with.
Many victims over 65
Finally, 1.7% of Belgians said they have been victims of sexual violence outside the family in 2021, and 0.4 % within the family. Women were more often affected than men: in 73% of cases of sexual violence within the family, the victim was a woman; outside the family, the figure was as high as 83%.
About 17.8% of cases of intrafamily sexual violence were reported by people over the age of 65. Sexual violence also often remains under the radar: 25.4% of victims of sexual violence within the family said they had reported it; outside the family the rate was 15.7%.
For this year's edition of the Security Monitor, nearly 100,000 Belgians aged 15 years or older completed a comprehensive questionnaire at the end of 2021 on neighborhood problems, feeling safe or unsafe, victimisation, willingness to report crimes and police work.
Nearly 400,000 Belgians received the questionnaire in the mail and about a quarter completed it.
