Canada: Higher Crime Rates Outside Cities
Crime is not necessarily a big-city phenomenon in Canada, according to
The crime rate in small urban areas is 43% higher than in metropolitan areas and 58% higher than in rural areas.
When broken down into types of offences, rates of violent crime, property crime and break-ins are all highest in small urban areas.
Homicide
Of the 658 homicides in Canada, 427 were committed in large urban areas, 95 in small urban areas and 135 in rural areas.
Taking population into account, the rural area homicide rate of 2.5 per 100,000 people is higher than the metropolitan rate of 2.0 and the small urban rate of 1.7. This pattern has been constant for a decade.
Robbery and Motor Vehicle Theft
Robbery and motor vehicle theft are worst in big cities. The robbery rate for metropolitan areas is more than double that for small urban areas and almost 10 times that for rural areas. The motor vehicle theft rate in metropolitan areas is about 25% higher than in small urban areas and 80% higher than in rural areas.
Handguns
Just over one-third of all homicides in both metropolitan areas and rural areas are committed with a firearm, compared with less than one-quarter of homicides in small urban areas.
Handguns are the weapons of choice in metropolitan areas, used in 76% of all firearm homicides. In rural areas, rifles or shotguns are the most prevalent; they are used in 65% of firearm homicides.
Weapons
Weapons are more common in metropolitan areas in Quebec and Ontario with about 1 in 6 violent incidents involving a weapon of some sort, most commonly a knife.
Highest crime rates
The highest overall crime rates are found in small urban areas, except in Quebec, where the rate is highest in metropolitan areas.
Among all of Canada’s urban and rural areas, the highest crime rates are in the small urban areas of the four western provinces.
Although homicide rates are highest in rural areas at the national level, this is not the case in all provinces. In Ontario and British Columbia, the highest homicide rates are in metropolitan areas.
The highest homicide rates in Canada are in the rural areas of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta.
Lowest Crime Rates
The lowest crime rates are in the rural areas of all provinces, except in Alberta, where the rate is lowest in the large urban areas.
The lowest overall crime rates are in the rural areas of Quebec, Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick.
Areas Defined
Metropolitan areas are defined as areas with municipalities centred on an urban core of at least 100,000 people. Metropolitan areas accounted for 65.5% of the Canadian population in 2005.
Small urban areas are defined as any town that has a minimum population of 1,000 persons and a population density of at least 400 persons per square kilometre. Small urban areas accounted for 17.4% of the population in 2005.
Rural areas are defined as all areas of the country not falling into either the metropolitan or small urban categories. Rural areas account for 17.1% of the population.
3 Aug 2007