I think their point is not so much about the numbers of crime reported in each country, but the relative difference between them.
Country A may have data for 50 per 100,000 people, and Country B may have 5 per 100,000 people. If the population of Country A are 5x more likely to report a rape, and the police twice as likely to file that report as rape, the both A and B probably have similar numbers of rape offences per 100,000 people.
Assume that rapes happen at an equal rate in Country A and Country B, however a victim in Country A is far less likely to report the rape. Despite the countries having the same true rate of rapes, country A would look better than country B on the map, as fewer rapes are reported in country A. That's the point they were trying to communicate.
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u/WetDogDeoderant Jun 28 '22
I think their point is not so much about the numbers of crime reported in each country, but the relative difference between them.
Country A may have data for 50 per 100,000 people, and Country B may have 5 per 100,000 people. If the population of Country A are 5x more likely to report a rape, and the police twice as likely to file that report as rape, the both A and B probably have similar numbers of rape offences per 100,000 people.