Domestic abuse victim characteristics, England and Wales: year ending March 2022

• Domestic abuse in England and Wales overview: November 2022

• Domestic abuse prevalence and trends, England and Wales: year ending March 2022

• Partner abuse in detail, England and Wales: year ending March 2022

• Domestic abuse and the criminal justice system, England and Wales: November 2022

• Domestic abuse victim services, England and Wales: 2022

• Redevelopment of domestic abuse statistics: research update November 2022

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) year ending March 2022 shows the following trends.

• An estimated 6.9% of women (1.7 million) and 3.0% of men (699,000) experienced domestic abuse in the last year.

• A higher proportion of adults aged 20 to 24 years were victims of any domestic abuse in the last year compared with adults aged 55 years and over.

• A higher percentage of adults with a disability experienced domestic abuse in the last year than those without.

• A higher proportion of adults who lived in single-parent households experienced domestic abuse in the last year than those living in no-children households or households with other adults and children, however, household structure may have changed as a result of abuse experienced.

Crimes recorded by the police show the following trends.

• In the year ending March 2022, the victim was female in 74.1% of domestic abuse-related crimes.

• Between the year ending March 2019 and the year ending March 2021, 72.1% of victims of domestic homicide were female compared with 12.3% 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. The return of face-to-face interviewing allowed the collection of data on domestic abuse to restart. The year ending March 2022 data are based on a six-month collection period from the face-to-face CSEW, between October 2021 and March 2022.

On the return of face-to-face CSEW interviewing in October 2021, the upper age limit of respondents completing the self-completion modules was removed (it was previously increased from 59 years to 74 years in April 2017). 

The Home Office collects data on the number of domestic abuse-related incidents and crimes recorded by the police. For the year ending March 2022, 26 police forces supplied data to the Home Office Data Hub. Our Domestic abuse prevalence and victim characteristics tables detail the police forces that provided data.

For the year ending March 2022, the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimated that 1.7 million women and 699,000 men aged 16 years and over experienced domestic abuse in the last year. This is a prevalence rate of approximately 7 in 100 women and 3 in 100 men (Figure 1).

A significantly higher proportion of women were victims of each of the overarching types of abuse than men, with the exceptions of domestic stalking, stalking by a partner or ex-partner and stalking by a family member.

Following the removal of the upper age limit for survey respondents in October 2021, when comparing CSEW data over time, we use the 16 to 59 years age range.

The prevalence of domestic abuse experienced by men and women aged 16 to 59 years has not changed significantly in the year ending March 2022 compared with the year ending March 2020, the last time the data were collected. In the year ending March 2022, 7.9% of women and 3.5% of men aged 16 to 59 years had experienced domestic abuse, compared with 8.1% of women and 4.0% of men in the year ending March 2020 (Figure 2).

Data supplied from 26 police forces showed the victim was female in 74.1% of domestic abuse-related crimes recorded by the police in the year ending March 2022. This proportion was similar for most offence categories. For domestic abuse-related sexual offences, the proportion of victims that were female was higher (93.5%, Figure 3).

Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) data presented for the year ending March 2022, are not badged as National Statistics. They are based on a six-month collection period from the face-to-face CSEW, between October 2021 and March 2022. Caution should be taken when using these data because of the impact of the reduced data collection period and lower response rates on the quality of the estimates and significance testing between age groups.

The CSEW year ending March 2022 showed that a significantly higher proportion of adults aged 20 to 24 years were victims of any domestic abuse (10.2%) compared with those in age categories of 55 years and over. The percentage of victims aged 75 years and over was significantly lower than those aged between 20 and 54 years (Figure 4). All differences across other age groups were not significant.

There were few significant differences between men in different age groups who had experienced domestic abuse in the last year. The same was seen when comparing estimates of women across age groups.

Data supplied from 26 police forces showed that the proportion of police recorded violence against the person offences identified as domestic abuse-related in England and Wales was over 50% for women in age groups between 20 and 44 years. The proportion for men was between 20% and 30% for all age groups except men aged between 16 and 19 years (Figure 5).

For the year ending March 2022, the Crime Survey for England and Wales showed that a significantly higher percentage of adults with a disability experienced domestic abuse in the last year than those without (Figure 6).

For the year ending March 2022, differences between any domestic abuse estimates across different ethnic groups from the Crime Survey for England and Wales were found not to be significant (Figure 7).

For the year ending March 2022, the Crime Survey for England and Wales showed that a significantly larger proportion of adults who were separated experienced domestic abuse in the last year than those who were married or civil partnered, cohabiting, or widowed (Figure 8). However, marital status may have changed as a result of the abuse experienced.

Crime Survey for England and Wales estimates for the year ending March 2022 showed that the percentage of adults living in single-parent households who had experienced domestic abuse in the last year was higher than those living in no-children households or households with other adults and children (Figure 9). 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 for the year ending March 2022 mirrored national trends with a higher percentage of women being victims of domestic abuse in the last year compared with men. However, significant differences were only seen in the North East, North West and West Midlands. This gap was largest for West Midlands, where 10.3% of women were victims of domestic abuse in the last year, compared with 2.3% of men (Figure 10).

Differences between women and men in Wales were found not to be significant. Higher prevalence rates for men compared with women are likely to be the result of a small sample size because estimates are based on six months of interviews. Caution should be taken when using these data because of the impact on the quality of the estimates from the smaller sample.

In the year ending March 2022, the highest rate of domestic abuse-related crimes recorded by the police was in Yorkshire and The Humber (19.9 per 1,000 population, Figure 11). The lowest rate remained in London (11.1 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 2019 to the year ending March 2021 show that 72.1% of victims of domestic homicide were female. This contrasts with non-domestic homicides where the majority (87.6%) of victims over the same time period were male.

Of the 269 female domestic homicide victims, the suspect was male in the majority of cases (260). In the majority (77.0%) of female domestic homicides the suspect was a male partner or ex-partner, whereas in the majority (62.5%) of male domestic homicides, the suspect was a male family member.

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 3, CSEW estimates for the year ending March 2022 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

• Domestic abuse QMI

• 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 2022 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 2019 to year ending March 2021) 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.