Violence Prevention Framework for Scotland: Monitoring Framework, 2025

13. Increased feelings of safety in communities

In tandem with the aim to reduce the harms of violence, the VPF aims to contribute to increasing feelings of safety in communities.

13.1 Proportion of adults who said that they felt ‘very’ or ‘fairly safe’ walking alone in their local area after dark

Figure 21: The majority (75%) of adults in Scotland feel safe walking alone in their local area after dark; this is higher than the 2008-09 baseline position (66%) but has been at a similar level since 2016-17.

Proportion of adults who said that they felt ‘very’ or ‘fairly safe’ walking along in their local area after dark, Scotland, 2008/09 to 2023-24.

Source: Scottish Government - Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2023/24.

Most adults in Scotland felt very or fairly safe walking alone in their local area after dark in 2023-24 (75%). The proportion increased from 2008-09 to 2016-17, but has been stable since then.

Despite increases across most groups since 2008-09, there continues to be variations by factors such as sex, age, area deprivation and rurality in 2023-24. In summary:

• females were less likely to feel safe than males, this gap has been consistent since 2008-09
• those living in the most deprived areas of Scotland were less likely to feel safe than those living in the rest of Scotland
• those who are disabled were also less likely to feel safe than those who are not disabled, as were victims of property or violent crimes compared to non-victims and those living in an urban area compared to a rural area
• those aged 60 or over were less likely to feel safe than any other age group