Domestic abuse prevalence and trends, England and Wales: year ending March 2025

• Domestic abuse in England and Wales overview: November 2025 
• Domestic abuse victim characteristics, England and Wales: year ending March 2025 
• Domestic abuse and the criminal justice system, England and Wales: November 2025
• Domestic abuse victim services, England and Wales: 2025
• Redevelopment of domestic abuse statistics: research update November 2025

• The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) for year ending (YE) March 2025 estimated that 7.8% of people aged 16 years and over (3.8 million) experienced domestic abuse in the last year.

• There was no statistically significant difference in the prevalence of any domestic abuse, partner abuse or family abuse experienced in the last year by people aged 16 years and over compared with YE March 2024; comparisons cannot be made before YE March 2024 because of the introduction of new survey questions to measure domestic abuse.

• In YE March 2025, the survey estimated that around a quarter (25.8%) of people aged 16 years and over had experienced domestic abuse since the age of 16 years; this is around 12.5 million people.

• The police recorded 1,350,460 domestic abuse-related incidents and crimes in England and Wales in YE March 2025; 816,493 of these were recorded as domestic abuse-related crimes.

• The number of domestic abuse-related crimes recorded by the police decreased by 4.1% compared with YE March 2024; the second year-on-year decrease since records began in 2015, which reflects recent changes in police recording practices.

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.

The Home Office collects data on the number of domestic abuse-related incidents and crimes recorded by the police. Caution should be taken when comparing domestic abuse-related police recorded crime data with previous years because of changes in police recording practices. For more information see our How domestic abuse data are captured through the criminal justice system article.

Following a thorough programme of research, testing and evaluation we have moved to using new survey questions on the CSEW to measure domestic abuse from the year ending March 2024 onwards. It is not possible to compare the estimates derived from the new and previous sets of questions or to adjust the new estimates to enable direct comparisons to be made.

More information can be found in our Redevelopment of domestic abuse statistics: research update May 2025 article. More information on our current research to understand scales of domestic abuse can be found in our Domestic abuse statistics: research update November 2025 article.

Domestic abuse in the last year

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimated that 3.8 million people aged 16 years and over experienced domestic abuse in year ending (YE) March 2025. This is equivalent to a prevalence rate of 7.8%.

Information on the prevalence of domestic abuse by demographic variables such as sex and ethnicity can be found in our Domestic abuse victim characteristics, year ending March 2025 article.

A higher percentage of people aged 16 years and over experienced domestic abuse by a partner or ex-partner (6.1%) than a family member (2.7%) in the last year (Figure 1). When split by partner type, 1.7% of people were victims of abuse by their current partner and 5.0% were victims of abuse by someone who was an ex-partner at the time of the interview (see Section 7: Glossary).

In YE March 2025, there were no statistically significant differences in prevalence rates for any domestic abuse, partner abuse or family abuse compared with YE March 2024.

Data from YE March 2024 onwards are derived using new survey questions on the CSEW to measure domestic abuse. Comparisons with previous years have not been made as it is not possible to compare the estimates derived from the new and previous question sets. More information on why the new and previous questions are not comparable can be found in our Evaluating a new measure of domestic abuse methodology.

In YE March 2025, the abuse type experienced by the highest percentage of people was emotional abuse (5.0%), followed by economic abuse (2.7%) and threats (2.6%). Around 1.0% of those aged 16 years and over experienced emotional abuse by a current partner in the last year, compared with 3.4% by an ex-partner and 1.5% by a family member.

Domestic stalking was experienced by 2.2% of people and domestic sexual assault was experienced by 1.6% of people in the last year (Figure 2).

Compared with YE March 2024, the only statistically significant difference was in the percentage of people who experienced threats by a family member, which decreased to 0.7% in YE March 2025 from 1.1%. This was driven by a decrease in the percentage of women who experienced threats by a family member; 1.3% in YE March 2024 compared with 0.7% in YE March 2025.

Domestic abuse since the age of 16 years

The CSEW for YE March 2025 showed that an estimated 12.5 million people aged 16 years and over had experienced domestic abuse since the age of 16 years. This equates to a prevalence rate of approximately one in four people aged 16 years and over (25.8%, Figure 3).

Emotional abuse was the most prevalent abuse type and was experienced by around 1 in 5 people since the age of 16 years (18.1%) in YE March 2025. Emotional abuse by a current partner or ex-partner was experienced by 16.2% of people and 4.3% experienced abuse by a family member since the age of 16 years.

Threats were experienced by approximately 13.9% of people since the age of 16 years followed by 11.0% who had experienced economic abuse (Figure 4).

Police recorded crime data do not provide a measure of domestic abuse prevalence. Caution should be taken when comparing domestic abuse-related police recorded crime data with previous years because of changes in police recording practices. The police recorded 1,350,460 domestic abuse-related incidents and crimes [note 1] in England and Wales in year ending (YE) March 2025. This was a similar number to the previous year (1,349,747) [note 2].

In YE March 2025, the number of domestic abuse-related incidents increased to 533,967, compared with 498,685 in YE March 2024 [note 3]. Domestic abuse-related crimes decreased in YE March 2025 to 816,493 compared with 851,062 in YE March 2024. This was the second year-on-year decrease since records began in 2015. These decreases are likely to be driven by changes in police recording practices for conduct crimes (stalking, harassment and coercive and controlling behaviour).

In YE March 2025, domestic abuse related crimes represented 15.4% of all offences recorded by the police. Violence against the person had the highest proportion of offences identified as domestic abuse-related (32.8%) in YE March 2025 (Figure 6).

The police recorded 188,462 domestic abuse-related stalking and harassment offences in YE March 2025, accounting for 23.1% of all domestic abuse-related crimes. The majority of domestic abuse-related stalking and harassment offences fell within the stalking subgroup category (60.6%), followed by the harassment subgroup (28.3%; Figure 7).

In May 2023, changes were made to the Home Office counting rules for conduct crimes (stalking, harassment and coercive and controlling behaviour). The requirement to record two crimes, reported at the same time by a victim involving the same perpetrator, when one of them was a conduct crime was removed. However, the police continue to investigate all offences. This has led to a reduction in offences often associated with conduct crimes, particularly for malicious communications, and an increase in offences such as stalking and harassment. The impact of these changes on statistics is difficult to measure as compliance in crime recording in this area has been inconsistent across policing. Therefore, caution should be taken when comparing domestic abuse-related police recorded data with previous years.

Controlling or coercive behaviour

The offence of controlling or coercive behaviour was introduced as part of the Serious Crime Act 2015. The new domestic abuse questions on the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), added from YE March 2024, provide a substantial improvement compared with the previous questions in measuring controlling or coercive behaviours. However, the questions do not fully align with the offence definition and therefore cannot be used to calculate an estimate. More information can be found in our Evaluating a new measure of domestic abuse article.

The police recorded 49,557 offences of coercive control in England and Wales in YE March 2025. The rise seen in coercive control offences over recent years may be attributed to improvements made by the police in recognising incidents of coercive control and using the law accordingly.

Domestic homicide

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.

There were 352 domestic homicides recorded by the police in the three-year period between YE March 2022 and YE March 2024. This represents 27.6% of all homicides where the victim was aged 16 years and over during this period.

More information on the characteristics of victims of domestic homicide and information on perpetrators can be found in our Domestic abuse victim characteristics, year ending March 2025 article.

Notes for: Police recorded crime

1. Domestic abuse-related incidents cover reports where, after initial investigation, the police have concluded that no notifiable crime was committed. Incidents of domestic abuse that result in a crime being recorded by the police are included in the data on domestic abuse-related crimes. The number of domestic abuse-related incidents and crimes gives a better picture of the demand that domestic abuse puts on the police.

2. There may be some cases where an incident is recorded and then a crime subsequently recorded in a different time period, for example, an incident recorded on 31 March, a crime recorded on 1 April.

3. An example of a domestic abuse-related incident that does not amount to a crime would be two family members having a loud argument, a third party calls the police, the police attend and calm the situation down, but no notifiable crime has taken place.

Controlling or coercive behaviour

Controlling behaviour is a range of acts designed to make a person subordinate and/or dependent by isolating them from sources of support, exploiting their resources and capacities for personal gain, depriving them of the means needed for independence, resistance and escape, and regulating their everyday behaviour. Coercive behaviour is a continuing act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish or frighten their victim.

Current partner

A current partner is someone with whom the respondent was in an intimate relationship at the time of completing the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW).

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 under the age of 18 years who see, or 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, other relatives.

Ex-partner

An ex-partner is someone with whom the respondent was in an intimate relationship, but at the time of completing the CSEW is no longer in this relationship. Data collected from the CSEW on ex-partner abuse will include abuse by someone with whom the respondent was in an intimate relationship at the time of the abuse, as well as abuse from someone with whom they were no longer in an intimate relationship at the time of the abuse.

Further quality and methodology information can be found in our Domestic abuse in England and Wales overview: November 2025 bulletin.

Crime Survey for England and Wales

More information about the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) can be found in our:

• User guide to crime statistics for England and Wales
• Domestic abuse QMI
• How domestic abuse data are captured through the criminal justice system: November 2025 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.

Police recorded crime data, in isolation, do not provide a measure of prevalence to understand the true extent of domestic abuse. Caution should be taken when comparing domestic abuse-related police recorded crime data with previous years because of changes in police recording practices. For example, in May 2023, changes were made to the Home Office counting rules for conduct crimes (stalking, harassment and coercive and controlling behaviour).

In addition, from April 2023, police forces began using a new methodology, the National Data Quality Improvement Service (NDQIS), to help identify whether an offence was domestic abuse-related or not. The NDQIS tool automatically flags offences involving domestic abuse-related offences rather than relying on a manually-added marker. At the time of publishing, 37 forces have used NDQIS and further forces will be moving to the new methodology in future releases.

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: November 2025 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 2022 to year ending March 2024) 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: November 2025 article.