According to Businesstech, data compiled by Crime Stats SA, an online database run by Meerkat Data Management, shows which precincts in South Africa are the hardest hit by crime.

Shockingly, the group notes that 5,900 crimes are reported to the South African Police Services every day.

Recent data by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) showed that, when it comes to societal safety and security, South Africa ranks as the 15th worst country in the world, and the 8th most violent with a murder rate of 31 per 100,000 people.

The IEP singled out South Africa as being in conflict internally – driven by poverty,  inequality, and the slow pace of reform by government, which, in turn, fuels crime, violent strike action and political confrontation.

The data by Crime Stats – based on official SAPS data – shows that, while the country still has high levels of crime, it is improving.

Over the last decade, total reported crimes have declined in SA, from 2.7 million reports in 2004, to just over 2.2 million in 2014.

Gauteng as a whole experienced the most crime in 2014 (647,409), the two worst areas are located in the Western Cape, namely Mitchells Plain (25,575 cases) and Cape Town Central (18,369 cases).

Gauteng’s worst are is Joburg central (14,791 cases), followed by Honeydew (13,561 cases) and Pretoria Central (12,682 cases).

The crime numbers below are expressed as raw data, and are not proportional as a percentage of the population.

Sexual crimes

There were 62,267 reported sexual crime cases in 2014, most of which were again in KwaZulu Natal (11,661 cases). Again the worst precinct wasn’t in that province, however, rather falling in Limpopo.