[gojomo]

Fewer than a lot of other countries, including many that are considered very safe/desirable places to live:

200X comparisons: http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Crime/Burglar...

2012 (p. 8): http://www.civitas.org.uk/crime/crime_stats_oecdjan2012.pdf

A higher burglary rate than the US in both rankings are Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, New Zealand, and Australia.

(In fact, that makes me wonder a little whether these numbers might be a mix of both "burglaries" and "whether the citizenry even bothers to report" – with other countries having more burglaries that people don't report because it doesn't help...)

[omegaham]

Page 9 is the relevant graph for burglary on the Civitas pdf. The US is right in the middle.

One thing I'm surprised by is the ridiculous level of assaults committed in Britain. What's going on there?

[DanBC]

Glasgow is/was ridiculously violent. American surgeons who want to learn stab trauma go to Glasgow for experience. People are stabbed in the hospital.

Scotland used to be the most violent nation in the developed world according to the UN.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6415504

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/the-streets-of-sc...

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/apr/11/ukcrime.lornamarti...

Things have got better over the last five years. It's still pretty bad. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-22276018

[AnimalMuppet]

At the risk of being downvoted into oblivion: No guns.

In the US, if you're going to assault someone, they may well be packing. It makes you think twice. But in the UK, you know they're not (with close to certainty), so the only question is whether you're tougher than them.

[omegaham]

But a large number of other countries in Europe have similar gun control, and they don't have the assault rates that Britain does.

[AnimalMuppet]

Ah, true. I was only thinking of US vs UK.

[sjg007]

Lots of very drunk people.