Following the first nationwide survey concerning the sense of security of the masses of the Chinese people in 2001 the State Statistic Bureau organized the sample survey this time in last November. The sampling questionnaire was conducted from among 101,988 heads of over 16 years of age in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government. Under the present situation it has witnessed a little rise in the sense of security from among the interviewees. Whereas the answers of "not quite safe" went down 2.1 percentage points as compared to that of last time and those of "not safe" saw 0.6 percentage points down.

In the survey about "which security problem affects most your sense of safety" the answer of "criminal offense" comes to 28,000 heads, taking up some 27.7 percent of the total interviewees. The answer of "confusion in public order" occupies some 25.5 percent, the aforesaid standing at the foremost two places affecting the sense of security of the Chinese people. The "traffic accident" is listed at the 3rd place, taking up some 21.5 percent of the interviewees, a rise of 1.5 percentage points as against the previous one. But the drastic increase of private cars has stricken some worries into the sense of safety of the people.

As regards the situation about the social security in next year and the year after next the answer of "only so so" comes to some 39.6 percent, an increase of 1.1 percentage point as against that before ranking the list-top. And those of "very optimistic" or "relatively optimistic" a little bit higher than that of the past.

(People's Daily March 12, 2003)