Ninety four per cent of sexual assaults were not reported to police, the New Zealand Crime and Victims 2019 survey shows.
It found 29 per cent of New Zealanders had experienced intimate partner violence or sexual violence at some point of their lives.
Women were three times more likely to experience sexual violence.
Ministry of Justice sector deputy secretary Tim Hampton called the survey "enlightening and sobering".
"The levels of crime being experienced, and the number of victims is nothing for New Zealand to be proud of," he said.
"For comparison’s sake, 94 per cent of sexual assaults weren’t reported to police, when 94 per cent of motor vehicle theft was reported."
Only 15 per cent of sexual assault victims believed it was a crime.
The survey also showed only two per cent of victims experienced a third of all offences. Of interpersonal violence (physical offences, sexual offences and threats and damage offences), one per cent of Kiwis experienced more than half of all the incidents.
Students aged over 14 were twice as likely to experience violent interpersonal crime.
It also found a higher level of victims were unemployed, lived under financial pressure and in more deprived areas.
"Along with the socio-economic deprivation, victims are most likely to be aged between 19-29, Māori, never married, have moderate-to-high levels of psychological distress, lower life satisfaction ratings and lower feelings of safety," Mr Hampton said.
"It’s information like this that can help shape our response as a nation to supporting those experiencing disproportionate levels of crime and hardship."
Adults with disabilities were "significantly" more likely to experience crime, sitting at 40 per cent compared to the 30 per cent New Zealand average.
In the period surveyed, there was more than 250,000 offences carried out by people against family members, with almost half of the offenders on drugs or under the influence of alcohol. More than 320,000 people were victims of cybercrime or fraud.
Only 25 per cent of all crime was reported to police, with almost half of those not reporting due to it being "too trivial/no loss or damage/not worth reporting", and 27 per cent thought police would not have been able to do anything.
Sole parents were four times more likely to experience an offence by family members, including former partners.
Twenty-three per cent of Asian victims thought the crime they experienced was motivated by racial discrimination.
The survey interviewed 8000 people about the previous 12 months in 2019. It found there had not been a significant change in the level of crime committed compared to 2018.
There was about 1.7 million incidents of crime occurred from October 2018 to September 2019.
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