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Fact check: Which UK cities have the highest reported rates of sexual assault in 2024?
Executive Summary
The analyses consistently identify Cleveland police area as having the highest reported rate of sexual crimes in 2024, reported at 4.7 sexual crimes per 1,000 people, with West Yorkshire, Avon and Somerset, and Greater Manchester following closely in published region-level figures [1] [2] [3]. National survey releases from the Office for National Statistics signal a rising trend in self‑reported sexual assault prevalence through 2024, estimating roughly 2.1–2.2% of adults experienced sexual assault in rolling year measures, which provides important context that police‑recorded rates represent only one measure of harm [4] [5].
1. Why the headline — Cleveland tops the list and what that means
All provided regional breakdowns converge on the claim that Cleveland recorded the highest police‑recorded rate of sexual crimes in 2024, 4.7 per 1,000 population, a figure repeated across multiple dataset summaries and visualisations dated April and August 2025 [1] [2] [3]. Those documents present police‑recorded sexual offences by force/region and rank forces by per‑capita rates, and they consistently place West Yorkshire (4.5), Avon and Somerset (4.3), and Greater Manchester (4.1) next in the ranking [1] [2]. Police‑recorded rates reflect reported incidents rather than true prevalence, so a top ranking can indicate either higher incidence, greater reporting, or both, and the data summaries do not disaggregate reporting propensity, victim demographics, or offence mix at the level needed to determine which explanation predominates [1] [2].
2. National survey context — crime surveys show rising prevalence independent of police records
Separate national survey releases from the Office for National Statistics show an upward trend in the prevalence of sexual assault in recent years, estimating 2.2% of people aged 16+ experienced sexual assault in the year ending June 2024 and 2.1% in the year ending December 2024, while noting volatility in year‑to‑year estimates [4] [5]. These Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimates capture victimisation that may not reach police statistics, so the CSEW’s rise over a decade signals a broader trend of increasing reported victimisation that complements but does not mirror police recording patterns [4] [5]. The survey and police‑recorded datasets thus offer two lenses: one measures self‑reported victim experience across the population, the other measures incidents reported to and recorded by police forces, producing different but related pictures [4] [5].
3. Consistency across sources and timing issues — multiple Statista extracts align
The three Statista‑based analyses in the package replicate the same regional ranking and rates, with publication timestamps in April and August 2025, repeating Cleveland at 4.7 and the same sequence for West Yorkshire, Avon and Somerset, and Greater Manchester [1] [2] [3]. This consistency indicates the underlying police‑recorded dataset used by those compilations is stable across updates in 2025, but it also highlights a reliance on secondary aggregations; the materials do not present raw force‑by‑force incident listings or methodological notes about offence coding and population denominators in the excerpts provided [1] [2]. Users should note that Statista summaries typically repackage official statistics, so the rankings are credible but would benefit from cross‑checking with primary ONS or police force releases for methodological granularity [1] [2] [3].
4. What the figures do not tell you — missing context that matters for interpretation
The dataset excerpts omit several crucial contextual elements that determine interpretation: differences in reporting rates, local policing recording practices, population composition (age and transient populations), and the mix of offence types included in “sexual crimes.” Without those details, a high per‑capita figure could reflect a genuine higher incidence, improved police recording and victim support leading to more reports, or demographic factors such as a larger young adult population [1] [2]. The national survey notes volatility and methodological caveats, underscoring that single‑year or single‑measure comparisons can mislead if presented without these qualifiers [4] [5].
5. Bottom line and next steps for verification
The combined analyses establish a clear headline: Cleveland had the highest police‑recorded sexual crime rate in 2024 at 4.7 per 1,000, followed by West Yorkshire, Avon and Somerset, and Greater Manchester, and national surveys show rising self‑reported sexual assault prevalence through 2024 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. To move from headline to policy‑useful insight, consult the ONS and individual force data releases for force‑level breakdowns, victim demographics, and methodological notes, and compare CSEW prevalence trends to police recording changes to disentangle incidence from reporting and recording effects [6] [4].