The cost of the crime problem to the South African economy is estimated by the World Bank to be R700 billion in 2023. That’s a really big number; in fact, it’s about 9.6% of our nominal GDP. You’re likely wondering how they got to this number. Well, it combines transfer & other costs associated with stolen property, security & protection costs, and also, most crucially, the lost opportunity cost. The things we rarely speak about post a crime being committed.The truth is that a high crime rate damages the economy and society in various ways and contributes massively to the misallocation and inefficient use of resources. Basically money you or the government could have used for growth and making your life better is used for security against crime and for the consequences of crime. Now the unfortunate truth is that South Africa has a well-documented struggle with high crime ratesSo in this piece, we're going to look at crime, its economic consequences, and how economic growth and employment can make SA safer, and also look at some of the core costs for households due to crime.

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