Domestic Violence Statistics (UK)

Gender
- 89 per cent of victims are women. (British Crime Survey, Walby & Allen, 2004)
- 1 in 4 women may experience violence in their relationships with men (Women's Aid Federation [England] report, 1992)
- 11% of women compared to 1% of men reported frightening threats (British Crime Survey, Walby & Allen, 2004)

Age
- Women under the age of 30 are at considerably greater risk than those over the age of 40 years. (British Crime Survey, Walby & Allen, 2004)

- Ethnicity
- Home Office Research Study 191 found that, among women, risks of domestic violence do not differ significantly by ethnic origin: about 4% of women of all ethnic groups said that they had been a victim of domestic violence in 1995.

Disability
- 3% of women living in refuges were disabled during the year 1997/98, according to a research report detailing a Women's Aid survey of that period (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, 2002).

Social Class
- can occur within any class, but risk increases in situations of poverty.

Fear of being killed
In a study of 200 women's experiences of domestic violence it was found that 60% of the women had left because they feared that they or their children would be killed by the perpetrator (Humphreys & Thiara, 2002).

Homicide
On average, two women a week are killed by a violent partner or ex-partner. This constitutes nearly 40% of all female homicide victims. (Povey, (ed.), 2005; Home Office, 1999; Department of Health, 2005.)