Tasmanian assault victims increase, sexual assault reports down

Reported victims of sexual assault in Tasmania decreased from 213 in 2017 to 177 in 2018, the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated.

The annual total of 177 victims was the smallest since 2012.

The number of assault victims in Tasmania had increased in every year back to at least 2015.

They increased by 2 per cent to 3246 in 2018.

That meant almost nine people per day in Tasmania were assaulted, on average.

The ABS said 51 per cent of assault victims were male and 49 per cent female in 2018.

Despite the relatively even split between genders, females who were assaulted were much more likely to know the perpetrators than males who were assaulted.

The ABS said assaulted females were assaulted by someone they knew in 85 per cent of cases.

Of males who were assaulted, just 58 per cent knew the perpetrators.

Twenty-six per cent of assault victims were aged between 25 and 34.

Tasmanian assaults were more likely than not (55 per cent) to take place at residences.

The ABS said 19 per cent took place on a street or footpath and 17 per cent involved weapons.

The number of victims of homicide and related offences increased from five in 2017 to seven.

Victims of burglaries in Tasmania dropped by 10 per cent to 2995 in 2018.

Nationally, the number of victims of burglary recorded by police dropped to a nine-year low of nearly 170,000 in 2018.

"The number of burglaries nationally has decreased by over 20 per cent, from a peak of 215,000 in 2012," ABS director of crime and justice statistics William Milne said.

Tasmanian victims of the other property crimes covered in the ABS series also decreased in 2018.

Victims of motor vehicle theft declined by 282 (22 per cent).

The total of 1006 motor vehicle theft victims was the lowest since the series started in 2010, with 52 per cent of the thefts taking place at residences.

Victims of other theft decreased by 826 (10 per cent).