About one in 10 people victims of domestic abuse, stalking or sexual assault
It is the first time an estimate has been made of the combined prevalence of domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking.
The figures have been published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) using data collected as part of the Crime Survey for England and Wales.
3.2 million
Number of women aged 16 and over who have experienced domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking crime types in the year to March 2025 ONS
The survey measures experiences of crime, with domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking referred to as 'crime types' because in some cases a criminal offence may not have occurred.
Some 10.6% of all people aged 16 and over are likely to have experienced one or more of these crime types in the year to March 2025, with 12.8% for women and 8.4% for men.
The figures equate to an estimated 5.1 million people aged 16 and over in England and Wales, of which 3.2 million are women and nearly 2.0 million are men, the ONS said.
A slightly higher estimate of 5.4 million people or 11.3% has been made for the previous 12 months – the year to March 2024 – which equates to 3.4 million women (14.0%) and 2.0 million men (8.6%).
The ONS said that because these estimates are still in development and are subject to change, caution should be taken when making comparisons between the two years and is it not possible to say whether the difference is statistically significant.
The new estimate of the prevalence of domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking will be used as the main way for the Government to track its efforts on tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG).
Ministers have promised to halve levels in a decade, and are expected to set out more details on how the data will be used in its VAWG strategy that will be published later this year.
Elsewhere, data published on Thursday shows the number of shoplifting offences recorded by police in England and Wales has climbed to another record high.
Some 530,643 offences were logged in 2024-25, up 20% from 444,022 in 2023-24 and the highest total since current police recording practices began in 2002-03.
Retail bosses have warned that official statistics are likely to be the tip of the iceberg, and that shop owners need to see immediate results as ministers have pledged thousands more officers for neighbourhood policing.
Theft from the person offences also remain at record levels, with 151,220 recorded by forces in the year to March, up 15% from 131,584 in the previous 12 months.
However, the number of knife crime offences recorded by forces slightly dropped.
The figure stood at 53,047 in 2024-25, down 1% from 53,685 in 2023,24 and 4% below the pre-pandemic level of 55,170 in 2019,20.
Commenting on published figures on Thursday, Billy Gazard of the ONS, said: 'Police recorded crime paints a mixed picture. While homicide, and offences involving knives and guns, declined nationally, there were variations across police forces.
'Meanwhile, the number of recorded shoplifting offences continues to rise.'
In total, police forces recorded 6.6 million crimes in England and Wales in 2024-25, down slightly by 1% from 6.7 million in 2023-24.
This is up from 6.1 million in the pre-pandemic year of 2019-20, and from 4.2 million a decade earlier in 2014-15.
This is likely to reflect 'changes in police activity and recording practices' as well as genuine changes in trends in crimes reported to and recorded by forces, meaning the figures do 'not tend to be a good indicator of general trends in crime', the ONS said.
Separate figures from the ONS Crime Survey for England and Wales published on Thursday suggest people aged 16 and over experienced 9.4 million incidents of crime in the year to March 2025, up from 8.8 million in the previous 12 months.
The rise is mainly due to a 31% rise in fraud, which accounts for 4.2 million incidents.
The overall total of 9.4 million incidents in 2024-25 is 16% lower than the total of 11.2 million for 2016-17, however.
Mr Gazard added: 'The increase we've seen in crime estimated by our survey has been mainly driven by fraud, specifically bank and credit account fraud, and retail and consumer fraud.
'Both have risen sharply over the past 12 months and, overall, the number of fraud incidents is at the highest since it was first reported on the survey in 2017.'
The survey covers a range of personal and household victim-based crime, including theft, robbery, criminal damage, fraud, computer misuse and violence with or without injury, but does not include sexual offences, stalking, harassment and domestic abuse, which are presented separately.
Experiences of theft, criminal damage and violence with or without injury, as measured by the ONS survey, have been on a broad downwards trend since the mid-1990s.
The Home Office has been contacted for comment.
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