The Dutch have a feeling there is less vandalism, with less street furniture destroyed and fewer walls with graffiti, the central statistics agency CBS said on Tuesday.

And police figures confirm that feeling is correct, with the number of registered cases falling from 200,000 in 2003 to 120,000 in 2013.

The number of people suspected of vandalism registered by the police also fell in the same period: from 45,000 to 17,000.

The CBS said that 31% of those questioned last year said that street furniture in their neighbourhood was damaged ‘sometimes’. Eight years ago the figure was 50%.

Where graffiti is concerned, one in four said a wall was sprayed ‘now and then’. In 2005, the figure was one in three, the CBS said.

The number of people who have been the victim of vandalism, with a damaged car or garden, has dropped from 11% in 2005 to 7% last year.