The feeling of insecurity remained stable in France between 2010 to 2019, around more or less 20% of those polled, according to an INSEE study entitled “Security and society” and published Thursday, December 9.
This figure is “globally stable” over this period, with a “fluctuation around 20%”, it was “less than 20% in 2016-2017” with a “going back over the recent period”, said Christine Gonzalez-Demichel, head of the ministerial statistical service for internal security (SSMSI), during a press conference.
The period of the 2015 and 2016 attacks “did not affect this feeling, even though terrorism has become one of the major concerns of the French”, explains the study carried out jointly with INSEE and SSMSI.
According to INSEE, this feeling is “much stronger” among women, the youngest and foreigners, and among people with a modest standard of living, the unemployed and students. It is also felt more in urban units with more than 100,000 inhabitants and in the greater Paris area.
In 2019, 32% of people surveyed declared having observed a phenomenon of delinquency in their neighborhood, such as drug trafficking and consumption, excessive alcohol consumption or prostitution. Among people who observed “delinquent phenomena” in their neighborhood, the feeling of insecurity stood at 31%, against 15% among those who did not observe any, says the study.
In 2019, 21% of people said they felt insecure in their neighborhood or village, which corresponded to 11.1 million people. It was in the Parisian agglomeration that this feeling was most significant (29%).