Facts and Statistics
The numbers don’t lie: they tell a clear story about the prevalence and harmful effects of abuse.
The facts tell a clear story…
Domestic abuse is all too common in the UK, and its harmful impacts can extend to many areas of survivors’ lives, including mental health, physical wellbeing and family safety. Some women are disproportionately affected, particularly those facing intersecting forms of inequality such as racism, disability, poverty, insecure immigration status, or discrimination based on gender identity, and they often face additional barriers to accessing support.
Fact: 1 in 4 women in England and Wales will experience domestic abuse in her lifetime.
Domestic abuse feels incredibly isolating, but the numbers tell a different story: you are not alone.
Fact: On average, one woman is killed by an abusive partner or ex every five days in England and Wales.
If you are afraid of your partner, Refuge is here to help you. Always call 999 in an emergency.
Fact: The police receive a domestic abuse-related call every 30 seconds.
Yet it is estimated that less than 24% of domestic abuse crime is reported to the police.
Fact: Domestic abuse can begin or escalate during pregnancy.
1 in 3 pregnant women experience domestic abuse and between April 2024 and March 2025, 14% of Refuge’s service users reported being pregnant.
Fact: 7.1% of people of mixed ethnicity experienced domestic abuse in the year ending March 2024. This compares to 5.0% of white people, 3.4% of Black/Black British people, and 3.0% of Asian/Asian British people.
Fact: Black women are more likely to experience repeat victimisation than women from other ethnic groups: 35% of Black women who experience domestic abuse are victimised more than once, compared to 26% of white women. Black women are also more likely to experience severe forms of abuse, such as strangulation, suffocation, and threats with a weapon.
Fact: Disabled people aged 16 and over are more than twice as likely to experience domestic abuse than those without a disability.
Fact: Domestic abuse costs the UK an estimated £78 billion a year. It is not only weighing on our physical and emotional health, but also our economy.
Fact: 1 in 3 UK women (36%) have experienced online abuse or harassment, rising to almost 2 in 3 among young women aged 18–34 (62%). We know that 1 in 6 (16%) of these women experienced this abuse from a partner or former partner.
Fact: Some groups of women are disproportionately affected by tech-facilitated abuse. Our Unsocial Spaces (2021) report found that 75% of LGBTQIA+ women had experienced online abuse, alongside 45% of women from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Fact: Tech-facilitated abuse is on the rise, and between 2018 and 2024 Refuge’s dedicated Technology-Facilitated Abuse and Economic Empowerment (TFAEE) team experienced a 205% increase in referrals.
Fact: 95% of survivors of domestic abuse have experienced at least one form of economic abuse.
Fact: £14.4 billion of UK debt is directly due to economic abuse. On average, a survivor of economic abuse who finds themselves in debt will owe £3,272, with 1 in 4 (24%) survivors having debts in excess of £5,000.
Fact: A review of CPS data found that domestic abuse was present in more than a third of rape cases, and in more than 8 out of 10 cases of stalking and image-based abuse.
Fact: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that among female survivors aged 16 and older who experienced sexual assault by rape or penetration, 45% were assaulted by a current or former partner.
Fact: Survivors of domestic abuse are up to three times more likely to develop mental illness than women who do not experience domestic abuse.
Fact: 29% of Refuge’s service users report having a disability or mental health condition.
Fact: More people in the UK are dying by suicide following domestic abuse than are being killed by a current or former partner.
Fact: One in five children in the UK experience domestic abuse.
Fact: Half (49%) of teenagers in intimate relationships aged between 13-17 in England and Wales have experienced violent or controlling behaviour.
Fact: Domestic abuse often contributes to housing insecurity. 40% of homeless women state domestic abuse as a contributory factor to their homelessness.
Fact: It’s estimated that less than 1 in 10 women and less than 1 in 10 children who experienced domestic abuse received support from a refuge or community-based support service during the 2023-24 financial year.
Fact: 20% of all recorded crime in England and Wales is related to Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG).
Fact: In the year ending March 2024, 91.3% of defendants in domestic abuse prosecutions were male. In comparison, only 8.5% of defendants were female. Despite this, women are three times more likely to be arrested for incidents of abuse.
