Domestic abuse victim characteristics, England and Wales: year ending March 2023

• Domestic abuse in England and Wales overview: November 2023
• Domestic abuse prevalence and trends, England and Wales: year ending March 2023
• Partner abuse in detail, England and Wales: year ending March 2023
• Domestic abuse and the criminal justice system, England and Wales: November 2023
• Domestic abuse victim services, England and Wales: 2023
• Redevelopment of domestic abuse statistics: research update November 2023

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) year ending March 2023 shows the following trends.

• An estimated 1.4 million women and 751,000 men aged 16 years and over experienced domestic abuse in the last year; a prevalence rate of approximately 5.7% of women and 3.2% of men.
• The percentage of people aged 75 years and over who experienced domestic abuse in the last year was lower than all other age groups.
• A lower proportion of women in London experienced any domestic abuse in the last year (1.8%) compared with all other regions (between 5.1 and 7.2%).
• A higher proportion of people aged 16 years and over in the Mixed and White ethnic groups experienced domestic abuse in the last year compared with those in the Asian or Asian British group.

Crimes recorded by the police show the following trends:

• In the year ending March 2023, the victim was female in 73.5% of domestic abuse-related crimes.
• Between the year ending March 2020 and the year ending March 2022, 67.3% of victims of domestic homicide were female compared with 12.1% of victims of non-domestic homicide.

Domestic abuse is often a hidden crime that is not reported to the police. Therefore, data held by the police can only provide a partial picture of the actual level of domestic abuse experienced. Many cases will not enter the criminal justice process as they are not reported to the police. One of the strengths of the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) is that it covers many crimes that are not reported to the police and provides reliable estimates of domestic abuse.

On 4 October 2021, face-to-face interviewing for the CSEW resumed after it was suspended on 17 March 2020 because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Crime Survey estimates for the year ending March 2022 onwards have been suspended of their National Statistics status while we assess data quality since the pandemic. For more information see the Office for Statistics Regulation’s Temporary suspension of National Statistics status for estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales note.

The Home Office collects data on the number of domestic abuse-related incidents and crimes recorded by the police. Domestic abuse-related crimes continued to be recorded by police throughout the coronavirus pandemic. However, police recorded crime data do not provide a measure of prevalence to understand the true extent of domestic abuse.

For the year ending March 2023, the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimated that 1.4 million women and 751,000 men aged 16 years and over experienced domestic abuse in the last year. This is a prevalence rate of approximately 6 in 100 women and 3 in 100 men (Figure 1).

Following the removal of the upper age limit for survey respondents in October 2021, when analysing data over time, we use the 16 to 59 years age range to give a comparable time series.

There were no significant differences in the prevalence of domestic abuse experienced by women or men aged 16 to 59 years in the year ending March 2023 compared with the year ending March 2022. However, there was a significant decrease in the proportion of women aged 16 to 59 years who experienced domestic abuse in the year ending March 2023 (6.5%) compared with the year ending March 2020 (8.1%).

Data supplied from 28 police forces showed that the victim was female in 73.5% of domestic abuse-related crimes recorded by the police in the year ending March 2023, compared with 26.5% of domestic abuse-related crimes where the victim was male. This proportion was similar for most offence categories. For domestic abuse-related sexual offences, the proportion of female victims was 93.0%, compared with 7.0% for males (Figure 3). These findings follow trends seen over previous years.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) for the year ending March 2023 showed that a significantly higher proportion of people aged 16 to 19 years were victims of any domestic abuse (8.0%) compared with those aged 45 to 54 years (4.2%), and those aged 60 years and over (3.2% for 60 to 74 years). For those aged 75 years and over, the percentage of victims was significantly lower than all other age groups (1.4%).

The percentage of women who experienced domestic abuse in the last year was significantly higher than men for the majority of age groups (25 to 34 years, 35 to 44 years, 55 to 59 years, 60 to 74 years and 75 years and over). In these age groups, the percentage of people who had experienced domestic abuse in the last year was around twice as high for women compared with men (Figure 4).

Data supplied from 28 police forces showed that over 50% of police recorded violence against the person offences against women in age groups between 20 and 44 years were domestic abuse-related. The proportion of violence against the person offences against men that were domestic abuse-related was between 20% and 30% for all age groups (Figure 5).

For the year ending March 2023, the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) showed that a significantly higher proportion of people aged 16 years and over in the Mixed and White ethnic groups experienced domestic abuse in the last year compared with those in the Asian or Asian British groups (Figure 6).

Almost twice as many women in the White ethnic group experienced domestic abuse in the last year (6.0%) compared with Black or Black British women (3.1%) and Asian or Asian British women (3.0%).

For the year ending March 2023, the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) showed that a significantly higher proportion of people aged 16 years and over who were separated or divorced experienced domestic abuse in the last year than those who were married or civil partnered, cohabiting, single or widowed (Figure 7). However, marital status may have changed as a result of the abuse experienced.

The proportion of men and women who were victims of domestic abuse in the last year was significantly lower for those who were married or civil partnered compared with those who were divorced separated, single or cohabiting.

For the year ending March 2023, the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) showed that a lower percentage of those who were employed (4.6%) experienced domestic abuse in the last year compared with those with a long-term or temporary illness (11.7%) and those looking after their family and home (8.5%).

However, students and those who were retired experienced a lower proportion of domestic abuse in the last year compared with those who were employed. It is likely that some of the differences seen by occupation type are also linked to age.

Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimates, for the year ending March 2023, showed that the proportion of domestic abuse experienced in the last year was higher in households composed of a single person with one or more children (18.6%), compared with households with no children (4.2%), and households with multiple people and one or more children (3.7%) (Figure 9).

The proportion of women who experienced domestic abuse in the last year was significantly higher in households with no children, or households with multiple adults and one or more children, compared with men. However, household structure may have changed as a result of the abuse experienced.

English region estimates of any domestic abuse from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) for the year ending March 2023 followed the national trend, with a higher percentage of women being victims of domestic abuse in the last year compared with men.

Significantly higher rates of domestic abuse experienced by women compared with men were estimated in the North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, West Midlands, East of England and South East. This gap was largest for the West Midlands, where 6.6% of women were victims of domestic abuse in the last year, compared with 2.7% of men (Figure 10).

The proportion of women who experienced domestic abuse in the last year was lowest in London compared with all other regions (1.8%). Caution should be taken as area of residence may have changed as a result of the abuse.

In the year ending March 2023, the highest rate of domestic abuse-related crimes recorded by the police was in Yorkshire and The Humber (20.6 per 1,000 population). The lowest rate was in London (10.8 per 1,000 population). Although this could reflect differences in the rates of domestic abuse across regions, it could also reflect regional differences in the reporting of domestic abuse to the police and how the police subsequently record these offences.

Analysis on data from the Home Office Homicide Index combines data for a three-year period to account for the year-to-year variability in the volume of homicides.

Homicide Index data for the year ending March 2020 to the year ending March 2022 show that 67.3% of the victims of domestic homicide were female. This contrasts with non-domestic homicides where the majority of victims over the same time period were male (87.8%).

Of the 249 female domestic homicide victims, the suspect was male in the majority of cases (241). In the majority of female domestic homicides, the suspect was a male partner or ex-partner (74.7%), whereas in the majority of male domestic homicides, the suspect was a male family member (66.1%).

Domestic abuse

Domestic abuse is not limited to physical violence and can include a range of abusive behaviours. It can also be experienced as repeated patterns of abusive behaviour to maintain power and control in a relationship. The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 defines domestic abuse as any incident or pattern of incidents between those aged 16 years and over who:

• are a partner
• are an ex-partner
• are a relative
• have, or there has been a time when they each have had, a parental relationship in relation to the same child

The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 outlines the following behaviours as abuse:

• physical or sexual abuse
• violent or threatening behaviour
• controlling or coercive behaviour
• economic abuse
• psychological, emotional, or other abuse

The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 recognises children aged under 18 years who see, hear, or experience the effects of the abuse, as a victim of domestic abuse, if they are related or have a parental relationship to the adult victim or perpetrator of the abuse.

Domestic abuse-related crimes

Incidents of domestic abuse that resulted in a crime being recorded by the police and are included in police recorded crime.

Domestic abuse-related incidents

Incidents of domestic abuse that were reported to the police, but following investigation, do not amount to a crime or offence according to the National Crime Recording Standards. These can be added to domestic abuse-related crimes to create a total picture of the demand that domestic abuse puts on the police.

Domestic homicide

An offence of murder or manslaughter where the relationship between a victim aged 16 years and over and the perpetrator falls into one of the following categories: spouse, common-law spouse, cohabiting partner, boyfriend or girlfriend, ex-spouse, ex-cohabiting partner or ex-boyfriend or girlfriend, adulterous relationship, son or daughter (including step and adopted relationships), parent (including step and adopted relationships), brother or sister, and other relatives.

Homicide suspect

A suspect in a homicide case is defined as either a person who has been arrested in respect of an offence initially classified as homicide and charged with homicide, including those who were subsequently convicted, or a person who is suspected by the police of having committed the offence but is known to have died or committed suicide prior to arrest or being charged.

Stalking

Defined in the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) as two or more incidents (causing distress, fear, or alarm) of receiving obscene or threatening unwanted letters, emails, text messages or phone calls, having had obscene or threatening information about them placed on the internet, waiting or loitering around home or workplace, or following or watching.

Further quality and methodology information can be found in our Domestic abuse in England and Wales overview bulletin.

Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW)

For reasons outlined in Section 2: Main points, CSEW estimates for the year ending March 2023 are not badged as National Statistics and should be treated with caution.

More information about the CSEW can be found in:

• our User guide to crime statistics for England and Wales
• our Domestic abuse QMI
• our How domestic abuse data are captured through the criminal justice system article

Work to improve the data collected to measure domestic abuse from the CSEW is ongoing. More information can be found in our Redevelopment of domestic abuse statistics: research update November 2023 article.

How the police measure domestic abuse

The Home Office collects data on the number of domestic abuse-related incidents and the number of domestic-abuse related crimes. More information on domestic abuse-related incidents and crimes can be found in our Domestic abuse QMI and our How domestic abuse data are captured through the criminal justice system article.

Home Office Homicide Index

The Home Office Homicide Index provides data on whether homicides are "domestic". The Homicide Index contains detailed record-level information about each homicide recorded by police in England and Wales.

Analysis on data from the Homicide Index within this publication combines data for a three-year period (year ending March 2020 to year ending March 2022) to account for the year-to-year variability in the volume of homicides. More information can be found in our How domestic abuse data are captured through the criminal justice system article.